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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

A Study of 

The Present Condition and Future Prospects 

of American Protestantism 



BY 



WILLIAM ADAMS BROWN, Ph.D.,D.D. 

Chairman of the Committee on the War and the Religious 

Outlook, Secretary of the General War-Time Commission 

of the Churches, Author of Christian Theology in Outlme 



THE MACMILLAN C0MPAK7 

1922 



All rights reserved 



FEINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



^t 






IP 



Copyright, 1922, 
Bt the macmillan company. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1922. 



Press of 

J. J. Little & Ives Company 

New York, U. S. A. 



L'G 16 1922 

©CI.A681409 



TO ALL WHO HAVE WON" 

FROM yesterday's EXPERIENCE 

THE HOPE OF A BETTER TO-MORROW 



PREFACE 

This book expresses certain convictions concerning the oppor- 
tunity and duty of the American Protestant churches which sum up 
the experience and reflection of many years. 

The immediate occasion for the book was furnished by my ex- 
perience as Secretary of the General War-Time Commission of the 
Churches and Chairman of the Committee on the War and the Re- 
ligious Outlook. The former was the organization through which 
the different Protestant denominations co-operated during the war. 
In this commission no less than thirty-nine different bodies were 
represented, including communions as different as the Episcopalians 
and the Southern Baptists. As secretary of this Commission I was 
not only brought into intimate association with many leaders of 
the larger Protestant communions as well as with representative 
Roman Catholics and Jews, but was obliged for the first time to 
make a comprehensive survey of the tasks and problems which con- 
front the Church as a whole. 

The need which the war disclosed of a thoroughgoing co-opera- 
tive study of these tasks and problems led to the organization, in 
1918, of the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook. 
This is a group of men and women, some thirty in number, who have 
spent the last four years in a co-operative study of such fundamen- 
tal subjects as the relation of the Church to industry, the missionary 
outlook in the light of the war, the teaching work of the Church, 
and the problems and possibilities of Christian unity. One of the 
motives which has led me to undertake this book has been the 
desire to bring the work of this committee to the attention of a 
wider public, and to enlist thoughtful Christians of all the churches 
in the kind of inquiry it seeks to promote. 

But my interest in the subject to be discussed is of older date. 
As a member of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church in the U. S. A., and for many years Chairman of the 
Home Missions Committee of the Presbytery of New York, I have 

• • 

YU 



viii PREFACE 

had the opportunity to study at first hand the ways in which 
the new influences and demands of the modern world are affecting 
the missionary policy of the churches. In particular, my work as 
Chairman of the Home Missions Committee has brought me into 
touch with the race problem as it meets us among our immigrants 
of foreign speech, with the industrial problem as it confronts us in 
labor and radical circles, and, above all, with the problem of Chris- 
tion co-operation as illustrated in the missionary work of an im- 
portant denomination in our largest and most difficult home mission 
field. 

This study of home mission problems has been supplemented by 
repeated visits to the foreign field, most recently in 1916 by a trip 
to China and Japan as Union Seminary lecturer in the Far East, 
where in conferences with representative missionary groups I had 
the privilege of comparing the problems which face the Church at 
home with those which confront the Church abroad. 

These contacts at home and abroad have helped me to appre- 
ciate how impossible it is for any one denomination to solve its 
problems alone, and have interested me keenly in the various at- 
tempts that are being made to realize Christian unity. Some of 
these attempts I have had the opportunity to study in practical 
ways: in the local field as Chairman of the New York City Mis- 
sions Council; in the national field as a member of the Adminis- 
trative Committee of the Federal Council and Chairman of its 
Commission on Christian Education. 

As a result, I have come to hold with growing conviction the 
thesis to which this book is devoted; namely, that it is vital to the 
future success of American Protestantism that we re-think our 
theory of the Church. 

When I say that we ought to re-think our theory of the Church 
I do not mean that we should continue our discussion of church 
unity in the abstract. I mean something far more important and 
more difficult; namely, that we should make a serious attempt to 
determine what should be the function of the Church in our demo- 
cratic society and to come to a definite understanding as to the 
ways in which the existing churches can best co-operate in seeing 
that this function is adequately discharged. I mean that we should 
interpret to those who are actually participating in the everyday 
work of the churches the real meaning and ultimate purpose of 
what they are doing, so that they shall see their familiar tasks and 



PREFACE ix 

occupations in their larger setting as necessary parts of the work of 
the Church as a whole. 

Such an interpretation of present-day Christianity is needed be- 
cause of the changes which have taken place in the environment 
in which the Church must work. The modern Church must follow 
the individual through his varying experiences in the world of 
to-day. 'It must face the social issues of our time as they meet u^ 
us in the struggles of capital and labor, in the strife of race with 
race, in the rivalry of nation with nation, and be able to show that 
the Gospel of Christ has a remedy and a programme adequate for 
all forms of human need. We are trying an experiment which will 
have a far-reaching effect upon the future of democracy, an ex- 
periment which will show whether it is possible to supply the uni- 
fying spiritual influence needed in a democracy by means of a 
strong, coherent, free Church, and so make possible under the con- 
ditions of our modern life the coming of the new social order called 
by our Maker the Kingdom of God. ^ 

It remains to express my acknowledgments to the friends who 
have helped me in the preparation of this book. To name them all 
would be impossible, but a word must be said of what I owe to my 
fellow-workers in the Federal Council, the General War-Time 
Commission of the Churches, and the Committee on the War and 
the Religious Outlook. If in spite of many superficial reasons for 
discouragement I still retain an abiding faith in the promise and 
possibilities of American Protestantism, it is no small part because 
of what I have learned of these possibilities through my association 
with them. 

In particular I wish to express my indebtedness to my friend, 
the Rev. Samuel McCrea Cavert, my assistant in the General War- 
Time Commission, and now General Secretary of the Federal 
Council, who has read the whole manuscript in proof and given me 
many helpful suggestions. To Dr. Alfred Williams Anthony, Sec- 
retary of the Home Missions Council, Dr. Robert L. Kelly, Secre- 
tary of the Council of Church Boards of Education, and my col- 
leagues. Professors Daniel J. Fleming and Hugh Hartshorne, of 
the Union Theological Seminary, who have read parts of the manu- 
script, I desire also to express my thanks. 

It had been my hope to add to the text a classified bibliography; 
but the range of interests covered is so wide that I have reluctantly 
been obliged to abandon this plan. References to some of the most 



X PREFACE 

convenient sources of information have been given in the notes. For 
help in assembling the material available in print I am indebted to 
Miss Hudson, Reference Librarian of the Union Theological Semi- 
nary. But much of the information on which I have relied has 
been secured through correspondence of which no detailed acknowl- 
edgment is possible. 

As I reflect how imperfect is my knowledge of many of the 
subjects on which I have written I am tempted still further to 
postpone the publication of my book. But since any study of con- 
temporary life must needs be provisional, I am content to send it out 
as it is, asking only that it be taken for no more than it professes 
to be, a report of progress and a confession of faith. 

WILLIAM ADAMS BROWN. 
Union Theological Seminary, 
June, 1922. 



CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER PAGB 

I. The Question of Democracy to the Church of To-day ... 3 

1. The New Interest in Organized Religion, and the Reasons 

for it 3 

2. The Differing Estimates of the Function of the American Church 5 

3. Purpose and Scope of the Present Study V 



PART I 

FACING THE FACTS 

II. The Religion of the Average American 15 

1. Opportunity Afforded by the Army for the Study of the Religion 

of American Young Men 15 

2. What Young America Thinks about God and Religion ... 17 

3. Need of Supplementing This by a Study of the Attitude of the 

Older Generation 23 

4. What American Womanhood is Likely to Contribute to the Reli- 

gion of the Future 27 

5. Changing Conditions Affecting the Religion of American Children 31 

III. Emerging Problems 34 

1. New Elements Affecting the Religious Situation — The Shifting 

of Population — Immigration and the Negro 34 

2. The Effect of Modern Industry — The Growth of Class Conscious- 

ness 37 

3. Resulting Changes in the Church's Missionary Task ... 40 

4. Emerging Problems — The Problems of Race, of Class, and of 

Nationality 42 

IV. The Wider Outlook 46 

1. Chief Points of Contact between American Christianity and 

International Problems 46 

2. Foreign Missions, a Factor in Educating America for Internation- 

alism 48 

XL 



xu 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

3. Suffering as a Teacher of International Brotherhood and Re- 

sponsibility 54 

4. The Church and the League of Nations > . 57 



PART II 

WHERE TO BEGIN 

V. Where the War Found the Church 63 

1. The American Church, an Experiment in Democracy .... 63 

2. Strength of the American Church in Numbers and Resources — 

Distribution of this Strength Among the Denominations . . 65 

3. Outstanding Characteristics of the American Church — Its Pro- 

vincialism and Individualism — Influence of the Denomina- 
tional Spirit 72 \/ 

4. The Relation of the American Church to the State — Similarities 

and Differences in Organization and Spirit 76 

5. Significant Denominational Types 81 

6. Factors Making for a Larger and More Catholic Christianity . 87 

VI. What the Church Learned in the War 92 

1. Differing Estimates of the War Work of the Church .... 92 

2. Success of the Church in Caring for the Soldiers and in Keeping 

up the Morale of the Nation 94 

3. Failure of the Church Adequately to Uphold the Ideal of Inter- 

national Brotherhood and the Reasons for it 97 

4. What the War Taught the Church Concerning the Need of 

Effective Agencies of Unity 101 

5. The Organization and Work of the General War-Time Commis- 

sion — Principles Controlling the Work of the Commission . 103 

6. The Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook ... Ill 

VII. Where the War Left the Church 114 

1. The Situation in Which the War Left the Church 114 

2. The Interchurch World Movement as the Attempt to Express 

the Church's Post- War Ideals in Action— The Reasons for its 
Failure 115 

3. Dangers to be Guarded Against: (a) an Unreasonable Condem- 

nation of the Denominational Spirit; (b) the Abandonment 

of the Co-operative Ideal 123 

4. The Present Condition and Prospects of the Protestant Ministry 127 



CONTENTS adU 



PART III 

DEFINING THE IDEAL 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VIII. The Old Religion in the New Intellectual Environment . 137 

1. Principles which Determine Our Ideal for the Church .... 137 

2. Effect of the Scientific Movement upon the Ideals of the 

Older Protestantism 140 

3. Negative Results — Disillusionment Resulting from the Discovery 

of the Limitations of Pure Science — Different Effects of This 
upon Different Groups 144 

4. Positive Results — The Contribution of the Scientific Movement 

to Religious Faith 147 

5. Consequences for the Church as a Teaching Body 150 

IX. The Church and the New Social Order 153 

1. The Church's Stake in the New Social Order 153 v^ 

2. Principles which Determine the Nature and Limit of the Church's 

Social Responsibility 156 



3. Illustration of these Principles in the Relation of the Church 

to Industry 163 

4. Need of a Similar Application to the Questions of Race and 

of Nationality 167 

5. Consequences for the Social Mission of the Church .... 169 

X. The Church as Spiritual Society and as Ecclesiastical Institution 173 

1. Possible Attitudes Toward the Divisions of Christendom — The 

Movement for Church Unity and the Questions of Principle 

it Raises 173 

2. Different Views of the Significance of the Church as an Institution 178 

3. Different Views of the Limits of Legitimate Variation within 

the Church 182 

4. Inferences as to the Future Organization of the Church Derived 

from a Study of Present Tendencies 186 

5. Principles which Condition Future Progress 189 

PART IV 

ORGANIZING FOR WORK 

XI. The Church in the Community 195 

1. The Fundamental Importance of the Local Church for the For- 
ward Movement in Christianity 195 



i^ 



XIV CONTENTS 

''H^PT^K PAGE 

2. The Expanding Work of the Local Church— The Country Church 

as Community Centre— The Institutional Church— The Mother 
Church with Affiliated Churches 200 

3. The Movement for the Community Church— Its Present Status 

and Possible Lines of Future Development— The Three Forms 

of the Community Church , , 205 

4. The Federation of Churches— Its History and Present Status- 

Larger Aspects of the Federation Movement 213 

5. Consequences for the Work of the Minister— Need of a Recon- 

sideration of the Function and Responsibilities of the Protestant 
Ministry ^ 220 

XII. The Church Specializing for Service 224 

1. The Need of Specialization in Christian Work — The Survey as 

a Condition of Effective Specialization 224 

2. Resulting Changes in Organization— The Department as an 

Agency of Specialized Service— Other Forms of Specialization 

at Home and Abroad— The Resulting Need of Unity ... 227 

3. Agencies for Interdenominational Administrative Unity— The 

Home Missions Council and the Foreign Missions Conference 
—Corresponding Agencies in the Field of Christian Educa- 
tioii 235 

4. Voluntary Agencies for Specialized Service— The History and 

Expanding Work of the Christian Associations— Problems 
Confronting the Associations To-day 242 

XIII. The Churches Getting Together 249 

1. Obstacles to Christian Unity Presented by the Existing Situation 

in the Denominations 249 

2. The Movement for the Reunion of Denominational Families — 

Its difficulties, Practical and Theoretical 255 

3. Organic and Federal Unity— Reasons why We Must Begin with 

the Latter — The Federal Council, an Agency of Nation-wide 
Christian Co-operation 258 

4. The Larger Aspects of the Unity Movement— The Relation of 

the Protestant Churches to Other Bodies, Religious and Non- 
religious — Possible Ways of Securing International Co-opera- 
tion between the Churches 269 



PART V 

TRAINING FOR TO-MORROW 

XIV. The Church as a School of Religion 279 

1. The Revival of Interest in Religious Education — Its Connection 
with the General Educational Movement — Aspects of the 
Church's Educational Task 279 



CONTENTS 



xv 



CHAPTER PAGB 

2. Winning Recruits— The Teacher as Evangelist— The Social Gospel 

as Material for a New Educational Evangelism 283 

3. The Church's Responsibility for Educating Its Own Members 

—Special Importance of this in Protestantism — What Chris- 
tians Need to Know about Christianity 287 

4. The Church's Responsibility for Forming Public Opinion in Mat- 

ters Bearing upon the Christian Ideal 295 

XV. Finding and Training Leaders 302 

1. The Problem of Educational Leadership in Protestantism — Fields 

in which Religious Leadership is Needed — The Church's Re- 
sponsibility for Finding and Training Constructive Thinkers 
in the Field of Religion 302 

2. Agencies Available for the Higher Religious Education of Lay- 

men—The Responsibility of Our Colleges and Universities 

for the Teaching of Religion 308 

3. Recent Developments in Ministerial Education— Training 

for other Forms of Specialized Service— The Church's Respon- 
sibility for Trainging Its Workers in the Field 317 

XVI. Thinking Together 327 

1. The Christian Way of Dealing with Difference— The Church as 

a Traming School in Co-operative Thinking 327 

2. What it Means to Think Together— Fields in which Co-operative 

Thinking is Needed in the Church 332 

3. Wanted: an Organ for Collective Thinking for the Church as 

a Whole 339 



CONCLUSION 

XVII. The Contribution of the Church to the Democracy of 

THE Future 349 ^ 

1. The Spiritual Significance of Organization as a Challenge to 

Christian Citizenship and Churchmanship — Need of an Inter- 
national Organization to Unify Democracy 349 

2. The Contribution of the American Church to the Larger Demo- 

cratic Experiment 353 / 



INTRODUCTION 



DEMOCRACY AND THE CHURCH 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

CHAPTER I 

DEMOCRACY AND THE CHURCH 

1. The New Interest in Organized Religion and the Reasons for It 

In the chapters that follow I propose to inquire what American 
Protestantism is likely to contribute to the most significant experi- 
ment being tried in the world to-day, the experiment which is to 
determine whether democracy will be able to furnish on a world- 
wide scale the integrating influence which will make it possible to 
realize unity under free institutions. 

One of the most significant signs of the time is the new interest 
in organized Christianity .^ By this it is not meant that we are 
experiencing what is technically called a revival of religion, or even 
that there has been any considerable accession to the membership 
of the Christian Church. We refer to the renewed interest in the 
Church as a structural element in human society. Men are coming 
to realize that in the Church we possess a social asset with as yet 
undeveloped, not to say unappreciated, possibilities— an asset which 
has value not simply for the men and women who belong to its own 
membership and are responsible for the direction of its policy, but 
for all of whatever calling who love their kind and take thought for 
the welfare of society. 

The war, which in so many ways has shaken us out of our easy 
satisfaction with things as they are, is responsible for this revived 
mterest in the Church. We have been cataloguing our assets, 
spiritual as well as material, and asking ourselves how far they are 

nt is worth noting that during the last year, since this book was begun 
no less than four different books have appeared, dealing with various phases 
TooTi^f^^"^- ^^^g]lt°° Pa^ks, 'The Crisis of the Churches," New York 
1WZ2; John Haynes Holmes, ''Old Churches for New," New York 1922 
r^u , ^ T^- Ellwood, -The Reconstruction of Religion," New York' 1922 
Charles R. Brown, "The Honor of the Church," Boston, 1922. 

3 



4 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA . 

adequate to meet the needs of the day. Most of all is this true of 
our institutions — ^the family, the school, the state, our economic and 
industrial systems. If the war has taught us anything it is this, 
that face to face with the strain of modern life the individual alone 
counts for little. Modern war, as we have been reminded again and 
again, is not an affair of armies, but of peoples and of civilizations. 
And the same is true of the less dramatic, but no less momentous, 
competitions of peace. The great word of our day is organization, 
and the test of the civilization of the future will be the fitness of its 
institutions to respond to the demands which will be made upon 
them. 

It is not surprising, then, that we should find men turning with 
fresh interest to the Christian Church. Here is an institution which 
has lasted nearly two thousand years, whose constituency embraces 
nearly a third of the human race, which professes to be the teacher 
of Europe and America in morals and religion, and which is carry- 
ing on an active missionary propaganda among the more distant 
peoples who were drawn against their will into the maelstrom of the 
Great War. It is an institution which commands vast financial 
resources, disposes of an annual revenue mounting into the hundreds 
of millions, numbers its paid ministers by the hundreds of thousands 
and its voluntary workers by the million, receives state support in 
a country like England where the tradition of the state church still 
obtains, yet is no less generously sustained in a democratic country 
like America where the voluntary gifts of the faithful replace the 
taxes of the citizens. It is an institution which touches life at each 
of its great crises — birth, marriage, sickness, and death — which is 
entrusted with the moral education of childhood during its forma- 
tive period, which maintains in its pulpit a forum for the weekly 
discussion of questions of morals and religion, which has been, and 
still is, the spring of private charity on an unprecedented scale. In 
spite of all its faults, the Church is the one social institution touch- 
ing men of all races and nations and callings which exists to spread 
faith in a good God and to unite men in a world-wide brotherhood. 
Here surely is a factor with which any one must reckon who, faced 
by the unexampled tragedy of our own time, asks with soberness 
where men are to turn for help in the stupendous task of world 
reconstruction. 

It is the more natural that men's thoughts should turn to the 



DEMOCRACY AND THE CHURCH 5 

Church in such a crisis because present issues bring them face to 
face with the unseen realities with which religion has always been 
concerned. These issues, ostensibly political and economic, are in 
essence spiritual. They have to do with the conflict of ideals. 
Though the weapons may be tariffs and armaments, the real con- 
testants are philosophies and loyalties. New faiths challenge the 
old; old standards are called in question. 

This change, everywhere in evidence, is most striking in demo- 
cratic countries. Here the greater power given to the people, and 
the higher standard of living which they demand, puts added strain 
upon the government. Nowhere is there more need of some unify- 
ing and steadying influence in the realm of the spirit. And such a 
unifying influence, as we are coming to see more clearly every day, 
can proceed only from religion. It is pertinent, therefore, to inquire 
whether the Church can supply the element of self-control and con- 
secration which will make a free people willing to undergo the 
sacrifices which are necessary to a just and stable peace. 

It is a world-wide question. It is being asked in Europe and in 
the Orient as well as in this country. It affects all branches of the 
Church — Greek and Roman Catholic as well as Protestant. Bishop 
Nicholai ^ has recently brought before us in impressive manner the 
bankruptcy of Europe's statesmanship and the need of some new 
organizing principle to unite men of good will in every land in a 
constructive and inspiring programme. Archbishop Soderblom ^ has 
been appealing for a world-wide conference of the churches to heal 
the spiritual ravages of war and to create an organization which 
will make future wars impossible. But it is in this country espe- 
cially that the responsibility of the Church appears. For in no 
other is the Church itself to so large an extent the creation of the 
democratic spirit and the expression of democratic ideals. If, 
therefore, the Church has a service to render to democracy any- 
where, the nature of that service ought to appear most clearly here. 

2. The Dijjering Estimates of the Function of the American Church. 

For every reason, therefore, the place which the Church occupies 

in America in the popular estimation and the views which are 

generally held of its function should be peculiarly significant. 

^ Bishop of Ochrida, in Serbia. 

' Archbishop of Upsala, in Sweden. 



6 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

That the Church has still a strong hold upon public sentiment 
and respect there is no reason to doubt. Although complaints are 
made of the slight influence exercised by the ministry as a profes- 
sion, of the failure of the ministry to appeal to the best of our 
young men as a life work, of the lowering of professional standards 
in the ministry, and of the divisions and competition among the de- 
nominations, we still continue to find men in every walk of life who, 
having found nowhere else the moral leadership which the hour 
demands, turn with hope to religion and to the Church as the in- 
stitution of religion. This appeal to the Church comes from the 
most varied groups — from editors, from men holding public ofiice, 
from military commanders, from leaders of political parties, most 
recently from men of business. 

But for the most part the appeal is made blindly, and few. 
have more than a vague conception of what the Church really is 
and what it can reasonably be expected to do. To judge whether 
the Church has so far succeeded or failed in performing its func- 
tion in our democracy, and to gain a clear conception of what that 
function should be, requires more thought than is usually devoted 
to such questions by those outside the Church. 

Nor is this uncertainty as to the duty of the Church confined 
to outsiders. Among church members also we find a wide difference 
of view as to what function the Church should fulfil in the life 
of our time. There are still Christians who fix all their hope upon 
/ the visible coming of Christ and believe that the chief duty of be- 
lievers is to warn men of His speedy return to judge the world; 
while others are chiefly concerned that the Church should be an 
active agent in the reformation and even the reconstruction of 
society. 

And as Christians differ in their view of the function of the 
Church, so they differ in their view of the way in which that func- 
tion should be discharged. Some believe that the Church's pri- 
mary responsibility is to preach the Christian ideal and to inspire 
the men and women who, in their several walks of life and through 
different institutions of society, will make this ideal prevail. Oth- 
ers believe that the Chm-ch as an institution is directly responsible 
for social betterment and should itself undertake as an organized 
body the works of charity, of education, of healing, of economic and 



DEMOCRACY AND THE CHURCH 7 

industrial reform, which are now largely in the hands of secular 
agencies. 

It would seem, then, that the time had come for an impartial 
and objective study of the function of the Church in human society 
and of the nature of the contribution which it may fairly be ex- 
pected to make to the progress of mankind. When times were easy 
and issues relatively simple, one could be content with the tra- 
ditional formula, equally acceptable to evangelical Protestant and 
to radical socialist, that religion is an affair of the individual con- 
science, and that the Church concerns those only who choose to be- 
long to it. But we are coming to see that the matter is not so 
simple. The boundaries that separate one man's personality from 
his neighbor's have been embarrassingly obscured, and of institu- 
tions most of all it proves impossible to say where the limit of their 
influence is to be fixed. 

3. Purpose and Scope of the Present Study. 

Let us, then, take up these two questions: (1) What has modem 
democracy a right to expect of the Church? (2) What reason is 
there for believing that the Church will do the work which may 
reasonably be expected of it by the forward-looking men and 
women of our generation? 

We must begin by knowing what we have a right to expect. 
Many demands are made upon the churches which in the nature of 
the case they cannot meet. They are asked to do things which 
are the proper responsibility of other institutions and agencies, and 
sometimes in their desire to be all things to all men, they try to 
do these thmgs. Such easy compliance can have only unfortunate 
results. It diverts attention from the Church's true and unescap- 
able responsibility. It wastes energies that ought to be expended 
on more important matters. It leads people to expect from the 
Church service which they have a right to ask of state or school 
and thus they overlook the greater thing which the Church alone 
can do. Before we measure the Church's performance we must 
first determine the standard which should be employed. Primary 
among the needs of the day is a sound theory of the nature and 
function of the Church. 



8 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Such a complete theory this book does not profess to give. That 
must be the work of many minds working through many genera- 
tions. What is offered here is such a contribution as one man 
can make who believes profoundly in the unique service which the 
Church can render and whose duties during recent years have 
brought him into close touch with leaders in all branches of the 
Church during a period in the history of the co-operative move- 
ment when new experiments were being tried and old theories 
brought again to the final test of practice. 

This desire to keep theory in close touch with fact must be 
our excuse for confining the present study to American Protestant- 
ism.^ We shall not forget the wider relations of our subject so 
far as they affect other churches and other countries. Indeed, our 
study will bring fresh evidence of the impossibility of doing this 
even if we were disposed to do so. But for the time being we shall 
concentrate so far as possible upon the narrower field. We shall 
inquire what opportunity now opens before the Protestant churches 
of America, and what reason there is for believing that the churches 
will rise to this opportunity and do the thing to which the need of 
man and the Spirit of God alike seem to point. 

This restriction to the narrower field is the less to be regretted, 
because even within the limits thus set we shall find problems too 
difficult and many-sided for immediate solution. Almost every ques- 
tion of principle which meets the student of religion in any country 
or in any age confronts the student of American Protestantism. 
If we are to make progress at all it will be necessary to ignore many 
attractive side issues and hold ourselves rigidly to the main track. 
We must try to see the big things big and the small things small. 

^A word should be said in explanation of the use of the term ''Protestant- 
ism." The author knows American Christians who dislike this term because 
it seems to them divisive and narrowing and he would gladly use another if 
one could be found. The fact remains that the term has come into general use 
to describe the group of churches which broke away from Rome in the six- 
teenth century and which have this in common, that they lay greater stress 
on the Bible as the supreme revelation of God and on the right of the free 
spirit to interpret the Bible for itself, than was the case with the older church 
from which they separated. Within this group there are many who are rev- 
erent of the Catholic tradition and conscious of ties which bmd them to the 
churches of the past which they are not willing to sever. For Christians of 
this type the author has great respect, and recognizes that no comprehensive 
plan for unity can hope to succeed which leaves them out. He trusts that 
they will not be deterred by the title from reading this book. 



DEMOCRACY AND THE CHURCH 9 

Above all we must endeavor to distinguish that which is alive and 
growing from that which has had its day. "History," once said a 
great scholar, "is full of ghosts" — movements and ideas which pro- 
fess to be alive when they have really died long ago. For the his- 
torian of the past most of these ghosts have been laid. For one 
who wishes to interpret the history which is being lived they are a 
haunting presence and may easily divert him from his proper path. 

It will help us to find our way through the intricacies of our 
subject if, at the outset, we remind ourselves of the main topics 
of our inquiry. We shall begin with the environment in which 
the Church must do its work. This will require us to consider 
briefly the present spiritual condition of America and to point out 
the chief needs and problems to which the churches must address 
themselves. We shall study the religion of the average American 
and ask ourselves how it came to be what it is. We shall point 
out the deeper problems which emerge when we begin to look below 
the surface and consider the exceptional groups who are out of 
touch with the Church. We shall remind ourselves of the larger 
setting in which this life is placed and of the ways in which the 
spiritual problems of America are affected by this larger setting, 
which includes Asia and Africa as well as Europe. 

Having studied the people to whom the Church is to minister, 
we shall next examine the Church itself. Here our thought must 
follow the changes produced by the war. We shall begin by ask- 
ing what the American Church was like when the war broke out. 
What were its outstanding characteristics and what were their his- 
torical antecedents? Wherein did the churches show themselves 
weak and wherein strong when in common with all other American 
institutions they faced the test of war? How, in the next place, did 
the churches fare in the war? How did they meet the new oppor- 
tunities which the war brought and what services did they render 
to the country and to mankind? What lessons did the churches 
learn which will be fruitful for the future? Where, finally, did the 
war leave the churches? In what spirit are they facing the new 
problems which confront them now that the war is over? 

Having thus cleared the ground we shall be ready to enter 
upon the main course of our inquiry. This requires us to define 
the standard by which the Church must be judged. What have we 
a right to expect of the American Church if it is to realize our ideal 



10 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of what a Church should b€? The Church professes to be the insti- 
tution of a world religion. What is the Christianity of which it is 
the expression and on what grounds does Christianity appeal for 
the allegiance of men? There are forces in the modern world which 
challenge the Christian claim — forces in the realm of the intellect, 
forces in the realm of affairs. There is that silent and pervasive in- 
fluence we call the scientific spirit. There is that loud and dis- 
turbing group of forces which make up the industrial movement. 
These have their own tests for contemporary institutions. The 
Church cannot evade their scrutiny. We must look their criticism 
in the face. We must ask ourselves what effect the scientific move- 
ment will have upon the Church's ancient faith in a self -revealing 
God and His promise of a present spiritual salvation. We must 
know how the Church is to meet the demands of the modern man 
for a religion which conforms to the facts of the real world; what 
it has to offer to the individual, not simply in his private and per- 
sonal relations, but as a member of society, meeting new questions^ — 
economic, racial, political, international. Above all, we must learn 
what changes the Church must make in organization in order to 
cope with the present situation ; how far and in what sense we ought 
to expect the churches to become the Church. 

In the light of this preliminary discussion of principle we must 
next study the Church as it is. We must learn what the churches 
are doing and planning in the local community, in specialized forms 
of service, in the country at large. This survey will introduce us 
to the problem of unity in its practical form as it meets us in the 
efforts which are being made to bring various sections of the Church 
together in organic union or to devise ways of expressing the spir- 
itual sympathy which unites those who are not yet ready to sur- 
render their corporate independence. It will show us how large a 
part theory plays in the decisions of practical men and will prove 
to us that the key to the Church's future progress lies with the 
teacher. 

This brings us naturally to the fifth and final division of our 
study ; namely, the educational agencies of American Protestantism. 
Having learned to know the Church as it is to-day, our next step 
must be to find out what it is doing to -prepare for to-morrow. Ad- 
mitting, as all must admit, the gulf between ideal and reality, what 
steps are being taken to bridge that gap? What are the Protestant 



DEMOCRACY AND THE CHURCH 11 

churches of America teaching their young people? What are they 
doing to fit themselves to become more effective teachers in the 
future? How far does American Protestantism contain within it- 
self the principle of improvement which warrants our hope that it 
will prove the unifying and inspiring influence which American 
democracy needs? 

Such in briefest terms is the ground to be covered in the dis- 
cussion that follows. We shall speak first of the environment in 
which the Church must work; secondly, of its equipment for its 
task; thirdly, of the standard of judgment to be applied; fourthly, 
of the organization through which the Church functions; and finally, 
of the creative forces at work within the organization. 

Since we are proposing a study of institutional Christianity, 
much time must be spent in talking about organization and meth- 
ods, but we should never allow ourselves to forget that these are 
only part, and by no means the most important part, of the Church's 
life. Like all institutions the Church is conservative in the literal 
sense of that much abused term. It hands down with reverent care 
to each new generation habits and customs which have grown out 
of the creative activity of the past. But creation in religion, as in 
the wider universe, is not over. It is going on to-day, and those 
who shape the life of institutions must take this into account. We 
may plan as we will, but when all is done, there is always some- 
thing incalculable about religion. Chief of all the factors in the 
life of the soul is the free Spirit of God who touches the spirits of 
men and arouses them to new and undreamed-of activities. The 
Spirit of God is the refreshing and quickening shower. The Church 
is but the channel through which the water is conveyed. But water 
may be wasted for lack of a proper conduit, and those who build 
the reservoirs and lay the pipes have an essential part in the prepa- 
ration of the Kingdom of God. 



PART I 



FACING THE FACTS 



CHAPTER II 

THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 

1. Opportunity Afforded by the Army for the Study of the Religion 

of American Young Men 

We begin our study, then, with the environment in which the 
Church must do its work. The first fact to note is that it is an 
environment of persons. In order to understand the Church we 
must make the acquaintance of the men and women to whom the 
Church ministers. To estimate correctly the opportunities and 
prospects of the American churches we must appreciate the spiritual 
needs and problems of the people who live in America. 

This is by no means easy. It is hard enough to weigh the spir- 
itual values of an age which is past, when the records are all in 
and the deeds done have worked out their inevitable conse- 
quences. But what standards shall we employ in our own age and 
among our own people? In the mass of material which comes to 
hand how shall we distinguish the significant from the adventitious? 
It has been truly said: ''He who would decipher the meaning of his 
own time must lead an anxious life." 

Certain distinctions we may make with confidence. We may 
distinguish between the attitude of religious people in general and 
the exceptional groups who are critical of the Church or hostile 
to it. We may differentiate the demands which the individual 
makes upon the Church for solace and guidance from the social 
needs and tasks which affect masses of men and involve political 
and economic as well as more narrowly religious interests. We 
may separate those interests which are primarily American from 
those larger issues which affect man as man and require us to 
consider religion in its inter-racial and international relationships. 

Our first attention must be given to the average American, the 
person who lives on Main Street. We must try to learn what is 
thought about religion by the rank and file of Americans, and what 
they expect from it; who are found within the Church and what 
these persons are doing and receiving while they are there; why 

15 



16 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

those are outside who are outside; whose fault it is, theirs or the 
Church's, that they do not take a more active part in organized 
religion; whether it is because they are not interested in religion 
or capable of religious experience, or because the kind of religion 
which the Church has to offer does not appeal to them. The 
answers to these questions may not carry us far, but they will 
supply a point of departure. 

When the Great War broke out it lifted us for the moment above 
our local prejudices and limitations, and forced us to consider the 
condition of the country as a whole. What is more important, 
it furnished us with information which enabled us to do so intelli- 
gently. Our early adoption of the military draft made the war 
in the strictest sense a national affair. For the first time in our 
history a group of men was gathered from the whole country, with- 
out distinction of occupation, wealth, race, or geographical loca- 
tion. This afforded a rare opportunity for the study of American 
conditions. We secured data that we could not otherwise have ob- 
tained about the health of our people, their physique, their educa- 
tion, their morale, and, about that which particularly interests us 
here, their religion. 

These facts have been preserved for our information in a vol- 
ume issued by the Committee on the War and the Religious Out- 
look, entitled "Religion Among American Men." ^ It is a study of 
the religion of the average American as revealed by observation of 
conditions in the army. Compiled by a representative committee 
of Christians of different denominations, based upon the experiences 
of a large number of chaplains. Young Men's Christian Association 
secretaries, and other religious workers, it gives us the most compre- 
hensive and reliable information we have on the subject under dis- 
cussion. 

It is true that any conclusions derived from such a study must 
be supplemented by evidence dealing with other groups and other 
ages. Extensive as was the material utilized, it was yet too re- 
stricted to be fully representative. The subjects of this study were 
all young men, and men selected for exceptional health and vigor. 
They were living under strong emotion, faced suddenly with the 
possibility of the loss of all that they loved most. The conditions 

* ''Religion Among American Men: As Revealed by a Study of Conditions 
in the Army." Association Press, New York, 1920. 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 17 

of their life were unnatural and artificial. They were removed 
from home and familiar work. They were cut off from associa- 
tion with those of other ages and of the opposite sex. They were 
relieved of all responsibility to think for themselves. They were 
subjected to a rigorous discipline. Even within this restricted 
sphere their actual experiences differed widely. Some were on the 
fighting line, face to face with all the tragedy and horror of war; 
while others never crossed the sea, or rendered their service in the 
reserve area behind the lines. Obviously in studying the experi- 
ences of men under such conditions there is need of great discrimina- 
tion and reserve. 

This was recognized by the Committee, and determined their 
method of procedure. They distinguished between the religion 
which men brought with them to the war, and their religious ex- 
perience under .the new conditions. They distinguished, further, 
between what they experienced under normal conditions, and what 
they lived through in times of exceptional crisis and shock. Finally, 
they distinguished between what they said about religion, and the 
faith their actions revealed. With these qualifications their reports 
furnish us the material for certain generalizations which we may 
take as the basis for further discussion. 

2. What Young America Thinks about God and Religion 

In the first place it may safely be said that the rank and file of 
the young men in America are religious. They believe in God and 
m a life after death, and they have some connection, at least 
nominal, with the Christian church. Just what proportion of the 
men were church members it is not easy to say. Doubtless the 
number did not differ appreciably from that in the nation at large. 
The interesting thing is that so many men should have confessed 
to some connection with the Christian church. Estimates vary 
from the great majority to ninety per cent, and even higher.^ 

of r^^' "?,^^^^^°^ t^''''\ American Men," p. 10. A striking example is that 
ot Camp Devens, Massachusetts, where through the co-operation of the Young 
Mens Christian Association, the camp pastors, and the military authorities 

^If ^nf .^^'^''' T' ^"^T ^^ ^""^^ ^^^ ^"S"^^' 1918, which covered 25,607 
men. Of this number only 586 failed to express some church preference 

rrrn m^ *r ^ "f , °' ''l"\°^^ ^""^^^- ^^ ^ -ligiousTensus of 
preference. Op r, p.T '"" ^ ^""""'^""^ '"°'^' ^^^ '^''''^ '""^''''^^ ^^ 



18 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

This contact, indirect if not direct with the Christian Church, 
helps to explain an attitude in many of the young men of the Ameri- 
can army which was frequently remarked by foreign observers. 
Drawn in large numbers from homes where religion was respected 
and the Church taken for granted, they brought with them to 
their new life a background of association and habit which made 
prayer and the singing of hymns a natural vehicle for the expres- 
sion of their deeper emotions. This was true even when, as was 
often the case, their lives contradicted their ideals or yielded all too 
readily to the solicitations of the new environment. 

In an unpublished letter written by a chaplain of the Ameri- 
can Expeditionary Force ^ we find the following description: He is 
speaking of a service which he had been holding near the front dur- 
ing one of the intervals when his regiment was relieved from active 
service. 

The service this morning was one of the most satisfactory that I have had. 
After a great deal of palaver I finally secured the use of the church in this 
village. The French chaplain had mass at eight-forty-five, and my service 
came at ten-thirty. The whole thing would make a good story. First of all, 
the argument with the French chaplain through an interpreter, then the secur- 
ing of a detail of men to clean the building. A big shell had gone through the 
roof leaving a great hollow place in the centre aisle. Another shell had come 
in through the side wall. Of course, all the glass in the windows was broken. 
Outside, the little graveyard had suffered in the same way. One grave-stone 
had been made in the form of a big stone cofiin and the shell had torn one 
end of it off, leaving the stone standing near by like a partly opened door. It 
reminds me somewhat of the pictures you sometimes see of the Day of Resur- 
rection. 

The band had been practising on some hymns for me. At twenty minutes 
past ten the bugler blew the church call and then the band started and 
marched up through the street playing a march composed of "Onward, Chris- 
tian Soldiers," and ''Stand up for Jesus," and "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful." 
They stopped outside the door and marched quietly in and up the aisle to 
the front on the right-hand side where I had a place for them. Then the 
fellows began to come in. I suppose there were about two hundred of them. 
You cannot imagine how it helped to have a real church building with seats 
and music. And when after a few opening sentences the band started "Praise 
God from Whom All Blessings Flow," I just thought I was standing up once 
more in the pulpit of the dear old University Place Church. Shell holes, 
dangling plaster, the band, and the men in uniforms disappeared and I was 
right back home. And that is the way the whole lot of us felt. A picture of 
all the memories that were before our eyes would have been a very beautiful 
and precious one. 

* Rev. Guthrie Speers, Chaplain of the 102d Infantry Regiment, 26th Divi- 
sion, A. E. F. 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 19 

My forty-five little hymn books did not go around, but there were a whole 
lot who did not seem to need them, who just put their hands behind their 
backs, looked up toward the ceiling a little, and seemed to get the words by 
special messenger from the old church back home. We sang "Come, Thou 
Almighty King," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," "Onward, Christian 
Soldiers," and "The Son of God Goes Forth to War." But the best of them 
. all to me was the Doxology. It was a fine service, not because of anything I 
did, but because of the things that came to all of us, the precious memories 
and thoughts. 

It may be said that this was an exceptional instance. Let me 
cite a witness whose testimony covers a wider field of observation. 
Dr. Talbot, senior chaplain of the First Division of the American 
Expeditionary Force, WTites: 

Pick up a magazine from home. You read of the religious work of the 
cantonments, and how soldiers flock to the services. I hope it is so. I have 
never seen it. We are not so fixed here that we can flock. But let me tell 
you what I have seen. During the first two weeks' fighting in the Argonne, 
my chaplains buried between fourteen hundred and fifteen hundred dead! 
The personal effects came through my hands. I did not count them. But I 
venture to say that in ninety per cent, of the personal effects of the dead 

• soldiers there was a Bible, or a Prayer-book, or a crucifix or scapula, or some 
indication that religion was an element in that man's life. More than that. 
The force of which that treasured object was an outward sign was vital and 
necessary. By September, 1918, we had hiked through enough mud and rain 
to scrap anything not essential.* 

But if all observers agree that the young men in the American 
army were religious, there is equal agreement that the religion 
which they had was exceedingly vague and undeveloped. Not only 
did the difference between the different churches play a small role, 
but even the differences between Christianity and other religions. 
God was a power controlling destiny, to whom one prayed, but 
His character was ill-defined, and He could almost as easily be iden- 
tified with the fatalistic God of Mohammed as with the God and 
Father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Prayer was in- 
stinctive and chiefly for personal and private matters. Christ was 

• a vague, ideal figure, not the personal Saviour of traditional re- 
ligion. The sense of personal sin was conspicuous by its absence. 
God was Companion and Protector, not Judge or Saviour. The 
Bible, as we have seen, was carried even when it was not read, 
but there is little evidence of intelligent and sympathetic acquain- 
tance with its contents. There was indeed but a meagre understand- 

* Quoted in part in "Religion Amo&g American Men," p. 89. 



20 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

ing of the Church's teaching, and Christian doctrine was either 
ignored, or was referred to in connections which did not show any 
adequate comprehension of its meaning.^ 

There were, of course, many exceptions to this rule. There were 
individuals whose grasp of religious subjects was refreshing. In 
the case of some denominations, notably the Roman Catholic and 
the Lutheran, there was evidence on the part of some men of 
systematic religious instruction in the tenets of their religion.^ 
But of the great majority of Protestant church members of all 
denominations, our generalization holds good. No single conclusion 
is reinforced by a larger mass of testimony than that of the failure 
of the churches to furnish the young men who had been under their 
instruction with an intelligent understanding of Christian beliefs, 
Christian ideals, and Christian history .^ 

Especially noticeable was the lack of contact between the Church 
as an institution and the wider social ideals and purposes which 
called forth what was best in these young men. No prominence 
was given to the Kingdom of God, as a better social order for which 
to work. Indeed, there was almost no evidence of any connection 
Jn the minds of most of them between religion and social betterment. 
Where social ideals and aspirations were present, they were not 
associated with Christianity or the Church.* This is the more 
significant in view of the fact that, as we shall see later, there 
has been a growing tendency in certain sections of the Christian 
Church to emphasize the social aspects of Christianity. It would 
seem, therefore, that this emphasis has not yet affected the edu- 
cational work of the churches to any considerable extent. 

The absence of the social note in religion was the more note- 
worthy because of the ready response of many of the men to the 

'Cf. "Religion Among American Men," Chapter III, "The Faith of the 
Majority." 

'"Religion Among American Men," p. 16. Cf. the following testimony 
from a Lutheran mmister of wide experience: "Among the Lutherans of the 
Eastern states I should say that probably less than ten per cent, have ever 
had any parochial school training; in the Western states the percentage would 
be higher but would hardly reach one-half. The real secret of the thing is the 
catechetical training which precedes confirmation and which is universal in the 
Lutheran churches." P. 16, note 13. 

' Religion Among American Men," pp. 14, 15. Note that the same situa- 
tion IS reported as true of the English army. Cf. Cairns, "The Army and 
Rehgion," London, 1919, pp. 99 sq. 

'Religion Among American Men," p. 137. 



* «- 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 21 

ideals of social service. Among the ethical qualities most admired 
by them, unselfishness, courage, and loyalty were conspicuous.^ 
The response to the first call for troops was the best proof of this. 
No one whose privilege it was to go into the camps and meet the 
men under the impulse of that first enthusiasm could feel that 
Ambassador Harvey's description of the motives which led to 
' America's entrance into the war was anything but a libel. There 
may have been older men whose attitude Mr. Harvey has correctly 
reported. Applied to the young men of our country his words were 
far from the truth. 

It is all the more striking that these generous and unselfish 
qualities should not in the minds of most men have been associated 
with Christianity. On the whole Christianity was regarded as a 
self-centred and a negative religion, having to do primarily with 
one's own personal welfare here and hereafter.^ Yet when the 
Christian appeal was made by men who could talk simple language, 
the response was instant and generous. It would seem, then, that 
the fault at this point was not with the men, but was due to the fact 
that they had not been properly taught the true nature of the 
Christian Gospel. 

All students of the religious life of the army agree in reporting a 
great impatience with denominationalism and a widespread lack of 
interest in the differences between the churches.^ Yet there is al- 
most equal agreement as to the responsiveness of the men to worship 
under the stress of emotion. I have already referred to the men's 
enjoyment of the hymns. The same was true of the sacrament.* 
It was widely observed and apparently much appreciated. Both 
in the home camps (as in the great communion services at Camp 
Dix and Camp Meade, which were attended by thousands), and 
under the more trying and dangerous conditions at the front, it 
seemed to appeal to something in the men which the spoken word 
could not as effectively reach. In view of the infrequent use of 
the sacrament in the non-liturgical churches this responsiveness is 
worthy of serious consideration. Was this only a passing phase, 
to disappear with the crisis which had called it forth? Or have we 

* "Religion Among American Men," p. 45. 
22 lnd'23'^ '^^^*^' '''' '^^^ ^^"^ ^""^ *^^ Church," p. 21 sq., especially pp. 

'Op. cit., p. 29. 

*0p cit., p. 103. 



22 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

here the revelation of a need in human nature, to which some of 
us have as yet given too little heed? 

Much has been made of the soldiers' criticism of the Church. 
That there was serious criticism cannot be denied. It is, however, 
easy to exaggerate its extent. The fact seems to be that many men 
were indifferent to the Church because it did not seem to stand for 
the great ideals in which they were most interested. If we try to 
sum up the criticisms in definite form, we find that they have to do 
partly with the inadequacy of the Church's moral ideal and the * 
failure of church members to live up to their profession; partly 
with the unreality or triviality of the religion of the Church, the 
fact that the churches have been so much concerned with matters 
of routine and externals that they have not succeeded in relating 
their message to the living needs of the day.^ 

One further point requiring notice is the lack of evidence of 
any widespread intellectual difficulty in connection with religious 
belief.2 The theoretical obstacles to faith were conspicuous by 
their absence. What difficulties remained were moral rather than 
intellectual— the selfishness of Christians, the rivalries of the 
churches, the concern of religion with another life to the neglect 
of this, and the like. The one conspicuous exception was the prob- 
lem of evil, which the war kept ever before men's minds.^ Here, ' 
too, there is food for thought for those who are responsible for 
the religious teaching of the next generation. We need to consider 
whether we have not been giving too much time to theoretical and 
imaginary difficulties, and ignoring the real obstacles that keep 
men from faith in Christ. In the army we had a chance to learn 
what these obstacles are. We saw that to deal with them effectively 
we must show men a working religion grappling with the fact of 
evil, as it meets us in this present life. Yet there is a good deal of 
testimony to show that while for many men the experiences of the 
war made faith in God and immortality easier, there were others 
for whom the reverse was true. Many who had never seriously 
faced the ultimate problems in their own lives were suddenly con- 
fronted with these world-old mysteries and found the strain upon 

'Cf. "Religion Among American Men," pp. 22-29; Fosdick, ''The Trenches 
and the Church at Home," Atlantic Monthly, January, 1919. 

^This was particularly noticeable in connection with belief in immortality. 
,Cf. "Religion Among American Men," pp. 84 sq. 

' Op. cit., p. 82. 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 23 

faith greater than they could bear. So much was this the case that 
a well-known clergyman of wide experience, whose position in 
London gave him the opportunity to speak with numbers of the 
soldiers who were coming and going, summed up his own impres- 
sion of such conversations in the paradoxical sentence that the war 
had made those who were irreligious before, believers in God, while 
it had shattered the faith of those who had supposed they were 
believers. 

Such, then, in barest outline is the picture of the average 
American young man as it was revealed by a study of conditions 
in the army. Sincerely and simply religious, a believer in God and 
in prayer, even when he forgets one and omits to practise the 
other, he is an admirer of unselfishness and loyalty to great ends, 
which he has not yet succeeded in associating in any definite way 
with the religion which has been preached to him as a matter of 
individual salvation. He respects the Church and feels a vague 
attachment to it; and while he does not see how it bears very 
directly on his personal life, or has any very definite message to 
him on the matters in which he is most interested, he is ready to turn 
to it for inspiration and comfort in the greatest crises of his life. 

3. The Attitude of the Older Generation 

Helpful and reliable so far as it goes, this evidence needs sup- 
plementing in several important respects. Three groups in par- 
ticular should be taken into account before our survey of American 
religious life can be even approximately complete: the older men, 
the women, the children. 

Apart from war conditions, any account of the state of religion 
drawn from the experience of young men alone would be mislead- 
ing; for youth has its prejudices and hmitations which later experi- 
ence tends to correct. With the responsibilities of later life come 
new estimates of value. One grows less impatient of half measures, 
readier to compromise, more willing to learn from the past. 

In two respects especially the religion of older people differs 
from that of the younger generation. It differs in^its greater ap- 
preciation of the objective and the institutional. It differs in its 
greater distrust of novelty. 

Older people appreciate more fully than those who are younger 
the values that are embodied in institutions. They have come to 



24 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the time of life when permanence means more to them than it once 
did. They have seen so many changes which are not for the better 
that they are disposed to put up with the evils of existing institu- 
tions for the sake of the good which they contain. It is not that 
they do not sympathize with the ends which the radicals seek. In- 
deed, there is much to be said for the thesis that the older one 
grows the more radical he becomes in his ideals. But they distrust 
the plans by which it is proposed to make us better. Like Bernard 
Shaw's revolutionist, their dissatisfaction with things as they are 
goes so far as to include the proposals to reform them.^ This af- 
fects their estimate of the Church. They see its faults as clearly 
as those who are younger. Indeed, they often see them more clearly, 
but they see its virtues, too, and they are less ready to risk a cer- 
tain good for a doubtful gain. To them the Church is a social 
asset of proved value, and they are not ready to give it up for any 
substitute which has not stood the test of time. 

It is only natural, then, that we should find many older men 
looking with suspicion at proposals to extend the range of the 
Church's activity in the social field. They doubt whether it is wise 
for ministers to interest themselves actively in politics or to try 
to commit the Church to remedies for our social evils of whose 
economic soundness they are not sure. Sometimes this disapproval 
expresses itself in active opposition as in a widely read letter of the 
Pittsburgh Employers' Association,^ in which the Young Women's 
Christian Association is criticized for its endorsement of the Social 
Ideals of the Churches.^ More frequently it shows itself in the 
demand that the churches confine their activities to their proper 
sphere, which is religion. ''Let the minister stick to the simple 
Gospel," we are told. By the simple Gospel is meant the message 
of personal forgiveness and salvation which was characteristic of 
the older evangelistic preaching. Like their sons, the fathers think 
'Cf. ''Man and Superman," 1903, p. 183: ''All who achieve real distinction 
m life begin as revolutionists. The most distinguished persons become more ' 
revolutionary as they grow older, though they are commonly supposed to be- 
come more conservative, owing to their loss of faith in conventional methods 
of reform," 

'Quoted in the Christian Advocate, February 10, 1921. Cf. the interesting 
detence of the employers' position by Mr. Long, Vice-President and General 
Manager of the Employers' Association, in a letter to the Christian Work 
March 19, 1921. Cf. also Industry, February 1, 1921. ' 

'Cf. p. 89. 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 25 

of religion as something separate from the rest of life — a spring 
of inner contentment and satisfaction, reconciling men to the limi- 
tations and failures of this life through the promise of compensation 
in another rather than as an active social force in the life that now 
is. But while to the young man this is a reason for dissatisfaction 
with the Church, or at least for the absence of any active interest 
in its work, to his senior it is the best proof of the Church's value 
both to the individual and to society. 

Not all older men, however, hold this negative view of the 
Church's function. Many value it for the opposite reason, because 
it inculcates in the individual the habits of self-reliance and in- 
dustry which are the mainspring of social progress. They have 
come to see that a religion which can do no more for a man than 
reconcile him to his failures will not meet the needs of this restless 
and aspiring age. They are wise enough to perceive in the social 
unrest of our time not simply a danger to be guarded against, but 
a source of new power to be utilized. They look to the Church 
for leadership which will direct this new power into fruitful and 
beneficent channels.^ 

The most convincing evidence of the strong hold of religion upon 
the rank and file of the American people is the widespread habit 
of church attendance. Much has been said and written in recent 
years about the decline of church attendance in the United States, 
but there is no reliable evidence to prove that it is growing less. 
Indeed, taking the country at large, it is doubtful if there has ever 
been a time in our history when more people were in the habit of 
attending church every Sunday.^ When we consider the nimiber 
of rival attractions in the shape of golf, baseball, and the movies, 
1 and reflect how far the old sanctions which made church attendance 
a badge of social respectability have broken down,^ the wonder is 
not that so many men remain away from church, but that so many 
go. In its ability to bring large numbers to its weekly service the 

^ Mr. Roger Babson's widely read book, "ReHgion and Business," New York, 
1920, is typical of this point of view. Cf. also "Enduring Investments" 1921 ' 
and "The Future of the Churches," 1921, by the same author. 

' A recent canvass of student church attendance at Urbana showed that on 
a particular Sunday, more than thirty-five hundred undergraduates attended 
church— probably fifty per cent, of those who were in town that day— not a 
bad showmg for a state university, where attendance is entirely voluntary 
Cf. Christian Century, March 30, 1922, p. 403. 



26 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Church gives a signal proof of the strength^of its hold upon the 
conscience and conviction of its members. ; They believe in the 
Church in spite of its faults as answering to some deep need of 
the soul. In times of routine the bond which exists between the 
members and the Church may be loosened and may even seem 
to part altogether, hu^ip. times of crisis it tightens and gives evi- 
dence of holding power. 

rrhe very generaL disposition on the part of American parents 
to Wd their children to Sunday school is another witness to the in- 
fluence of the Church. They may not themselves have any active 
part in church life. They may not be church members or even regu- 
lar church attendants. But they feel that the Church stands for 
certain great values and interests in human society which they 
would like their children to share. The Church inculcates certain 
virtues in which they believe. It holds up certain ideals of which 
they approve. It fosters habits of reverence, loyalty, and respect 
for authority which they regard as essential to the stability of so- 
ciety, and they wish their children to grow u^^in an atmosphere 
where a respect for these qualities is cultivatedj 

Of such facts as these Dr. Gilkey has reminded us in his recent 
pamphlet on the effects of the war on the local church.^ He tells 
us that if we really wish to understand the religious experience of 
America during the war, we must study it not only in camps but 
in the hearts of the fathers and mothers who stayed at home. We 
have no formal record of the experience of these older people, but 
if the pastors of our churches could write the story of the last six 
years it would reinforce our faith in the central place of religion in 
human life, in the unique opportunity of the Church to minister to 
the deeper needs of men, and in the power of old associations to 
assert themselves in time of strain. Among the people who filled 
the home churches we find little desire for novelty, small trace of 
intellectual difficulty; a readiness to take the Church at its face 
value as a ministrant to the simple needs of every day. If it be 
said that those who desire novelty are not in the Church, this is 
doubtless true. The significant thing is that there are so many 
who seem satisfied with the churches as they are. 

' Charles W. Gilkey, "The Local Church After the War," published by the 
Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, Association Press. New 
York, 1920. 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 27 

4. What American Womanhood is Likely to Contribute to the 

Religion of the Future. 

Thus far we have been considering the religion of the average 
American as it is revealed to us by a study of American young 
men and the kind of men they are likely to grow into when they 
become older. But there is another important factor which needs to 
be considered, and that is the new attitude of women toward their 
rights and responsibilities — social, economic, political, and religious. 
Here we have a set of influences which are bound to affect religion 
in novel and unexpected ways. Can we venture any prediction as 
to what their effect will be? 

In the first place, as women become more highly educated, we 
may expect them to become more critical of the Church. SucH 
criticism, as we have already seen, has been confined to limited 
groups and has not as yet largely affected any considerable number 
of church members. But with the increasing intellectual activity of 
women we must expect their attitude to change. In other walks of 
life we find women bringing to the conventional methods which have 
hitherto had the right of way a questioning and inquisitive mind. 
Why should not the same be true of religion? With the accession of 
women to the ranks of those who are thinking independently about 
religion we should expect a reinforcement for those who are trying 
to better conditions in the Church.^ 

This interest of women in the problems of the Church will be 
particularly valuable because it is the reflex of a parallel process 
which is going on in their attitude to personal religion. Their at- 
titude to religion is a natural result of the new conditions in which 
many of them are working side by side with men, and the responsi- 
bilities which are being put upon them. Out of these conditions 
special questions arise and a fresh type of religious experience is 
being developed. This modern religious experience must also be 
taken into account in any effort to estimate the possible contribu- 
tion of women to the future of religion. 

When we speak of a new type of religious experience we do not 
mean that we are to expect any abrupt break between women's at- 

^ As an example of this new critical attitude of women toward the Church 
we may refer to the stimulating pamphlet of Miss Rhoda McCulloch, "The 
War and the Woman Point of View," published by the Committee on the 
War and the Religious Outlook, Association Press, New York, 1920. 



28 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

titude to religion in the past and their present outlook. We mean 
simply that the conditions into which women are entering put upon 
their religious life a strain which is bound to have some correspond- 
ing effect on the type of their religious experience. They are facing 
in many interesting ways that change from the older religion of 
authority in which everything was taken for granted and one did 
simply what one was told, to the modern religion of freedom and 
responsibility which puts questions which each must answer for 
himself and lays loads which cannot be shifted to other shoulders. 
This fact will make a study of the religious experience of women 
in the next generation peculiarly instructive. 

In a most interesting and significant way women are concen- 
trating in a few brief years a development which has been going on 
in the race during many centuries. It is the change from the narrow 
and sheltered life of the home to the wider contacts and more ex- 
acting problems of life in society. Women are experiencing the 
sense of comradeship and responsibility that comes through the 
larger life of business or politics. To the old ties of family or 
friendship they are adding new ties of class or race or nationality. 
This transition is going on to-day in the lives of millions of men 
and women, and it will have momentous consequences for religion. 
Apart from the simple needs and experiences which have hitherto 
concerned us and which together make up the religion of the average 
American, we find that interests and problems are emerging which 
affect special groups and combinations of people. These interests 
and problems come to American women with peculiar freshness and 
power just because their life has been more sheltered than the life 
of men. 

An inevitable consequence of the greater independence of women 
will be to give them a larger share in the administration and gov- 
ernment of the Church. As the number of highly trained and self- 
supporting women has increased there has been a corresponding 
increase in the number of those available for active service in the 
Church. But as yet this energy has found no adequate outlet. 
Until recently, with a few minor exceptions, all official positions in 
the Protestant churches have been reserved for men. But this was 
true also until a few years ago of the other learned professions. 
When women were admitted to the law and medical schools, the 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 29 

natural consequence was bound to follow, and we see women taking 
their place beside men at the bar and in the operating room, as 
they had already made their presence felt in business, in industry, 
and in commerce. Is there any reason to doubt that what has 
been true of the other professions will prove true also of the Church? 
Is it conceivable that woman with her deeply religious nature and 
her profound conviction of the importance of spiritual issues will 
be content to remain a mere spectator, a runner of errands in the 
Church? Here is a fund of trained energy available for the highest 
form of service, ready to be utilized in a hundred ways, if those 
who are responsible for the conduct of the Church's affairs appre- 
ciate the opportunity and provide proper channels for the use of the 
powers already demanding expression. 

In the foreign field this change is taking place. The practical 
exigencies of the situation have made it necessary to grant women 
a greater share in the administration of the Church's work than is 
common in the home Church. In many of the missions women have 
an equal vote with men in the determination of the affairs of the 
mission and they are represented on the Continuation Committees 
in which the larger questions of missionary policy are decided. 
But the same causes which have produced this result in the foreign 
field are beginning to operate at home, and there is no reason to 
doubt that they will make their influence felt in increasing measure 
in the near future. 

Already we see signs that the home Church is waking up to 
this fact and is preparing to make use of this unutilized power. 
For a long time the women have had their own agencies of mis- 
sionary service. But their admission to a share in the management 
of the affairs of the Church as a whole is comparatively recent. 
The Episcopal Church, to be sure, has an order of deaconesses, and 
the same is true of the Methodists, but the proposal to create this 
oflBce in the Presbyterian Church has thus far been voted down. 
The Methodist Church South has provided for women's represen- 
tation on its Board of Missions, and the same is true of the Dis- 
ciples and the Friends. The Presbyterian Church is considering sim- 
ilar provision both in the case of Home and of Foreign Missions. 
The Congregationalists, the Baptists, and the Disciples, admit 
women to their highest representative body, and the same is true 



30 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of the Methodists.! In the Diocese of Massachusetts a woman this 
year for the first time took part in the election of a Bishop. Most 
striking of all was the recent action of the Northern Baptist Con- 
vention in electing a woman, Mrs. Montgomery, its president. 

It may well be that as a method of self-education and discipline 
it may be desirable for women still further to develop their in- 
dependent agencies for missionary and philanthropic work. But 
as we shall see later, any such device must necessarily be temporary 
and provisional. The real unit with which the Church deals is not 
man alone, or woman alone, but the family, and to deal adequately 
with the spiritual needs of the family men and women must co- 
operate on equal terms. This fact must ultimately express itself 
in the constitution of the Church. We are not attempting here to 
forecast what form that co-operation is to take, but simply pointing 
out that in the capacity of women for executive work and their in- 
terest in the larger questions which determine the Church's policy, 
we have a factor which must be given serious consideration in any 
attempt to appraise the present condition of American Christianity. 
This reference to the family as the moral and spiritual unit sug- 
gests one further point to which reference must be made, and that 
is the strategic position which, as the home maker, the American 
woman holds for the future of religion. With the entrance of • 
women into industry and the extension of their interest to other 
spheres of service, there has been for the time being a shifting of 
interest from that industry which has always been woman's pe- 
culiar specialty ; namely, making the home. No intelligent student 
of contemporary affairs believes that it will be possible, even if it 
were desirable, to turn the wheels back and make women content 
with the narrow and limited life which they once lived. But it 
must be possible, and for the future welfare of the Church it is 
essential, to use the wider training and insight which women 
are gaining through their entrance into the world of affairs to make 
their work as home makers more efficient and successful, and so 
fit them to become in the new age what they have been so conspicu- 

T ' ^L^^^' *^® Methodist Church admitted women to its General Conference 
In addition women may serve as stewards, may act as trustees for church 
property, and as presidents of the Epworth and Junior Leagues They are 
recognized as members of the Quarterly Conference, and of the District Con- 
ference but not as yet of the Annual Conference, a purely ministerial body, 
bmce 1920 they have been licensed as local preachers. 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 31 

ously in the past, the dominant influence in forming the character 
and determining the destiny of the children who are to be the 
makers of the American Church of the future. 

5. Changing Conditions Affecting the Religion of American 

Children 

With the mention of the children we have touched the last of 
the factors to be considered in our estimate of present-day Chris- 
tianity. A generation is growing up under influences the effects 
of which it is too early for us to forecast. What is to be the at- 
titude of these young Americans when they come to the place where 
they must make up their own minds, and choose for themselves? 
Will they repeat the experience of their elders whose attitude 
toward religion we have tried to analyze; or will the new factors 
at work produce changes in their experience, and, if so, of what 
kind? 

Some of these factors we can already distinguish, and they are 
such as to cause us grave concern. For one thing, there is the 
breaking up of family life, with a consequent decay of religion 
within the home. It is increasingly true that if the children of 
the next generation are to be saved for religion it is the Church 
which must save them. Their fathers and mothers no longer teach 
them the Bible at home or gather them in the morning for family 
prayers. For a home some degree of permanence is requisite, but 
in America permanence seems a vanishing art. The rapid changes 
of residence due to economic and industrial conditions; the shift- 
ing of population from country to city; the increase of women's 
work, particularly in factories, and other occupations taking them 
from home many hours in the day; the growing love of excitement; 
the increasing pace at which life is lived — all these create for the 
children of the next generation a problem the like of which the 
world has never yet seen. 

Into the causes of this state of things we cannot enter here. 
They are many and complex. Some of them will appear in the 
next chapter. In part we may hope they will prove temporary, 
the natural aftermath of the Great War which has detached so many 
people from their old moorings and set them adrift in the world. 
In part they have deeper causes and are a result of the intellectual 
and moral revolution which we associate with modern science both 



^2 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

in its theoretical and in its applied forms. The breaking down of 
the old sanctions of religion with the resulting loss of standards by 
which to judge right and wrong, the easy disregard of law when 
individual interest or taste is at stake, the enormous increase in 
the facilities for cheap amusement and the prevailing tendency to 
subordinate duty to pleasure in the world's estimate of values— 
these are some of the factors which have helped to produce the 
world in which the children are growing up with whom the future 
Church is so vitally concerned. 

On the other hand, there are encouraging factors to be noted. 
We have gained a truer appreciation of the importance of the child,, 
and pay more attention to his needs and welfare. Our attitude 
toward the child in industry is different. We are limiting the hours 
of child labor; we are lengthening the years of schooling and im- 
proving the instruction given. Increased attention is being devoted 
to the study of child psychology, and this in turn is making pos- 
sible better methods of education. In a word, we are becoming con- 
scious that the child is a social asset whose welfare concerns the 
community as a whole. 

This new attitude reappears in religious circles. The concep- 
tion of the child as a depraved creature who must run his course 
of evil before he can be won back to the Church by conversion no 
longer prevails. Bushnell taught us long ago that the child born 
m a Christian home should grow up a Christian as naturally as 
the acorn develops into the oak.^ But we are only now beginning 
to draw the full consequences of this insight for religious education. 
A good Sunday-school has long been regarded as essential to the 
life of the Church, and the number of children who are not reached 
by any formal religious instruction has been recognized as a 
national menace. We realize to-day that it is not enough to have 
Sunday schools. We must have good schools, and teachers who 
know what children need, and are competent to supply it. 

But this deeper insight into the spiritual possibilities of the 
American child will amount to little unless we have homes in which 
to produce Christians. The Church can do much to assist parents 
m training their children for religion, but it cannot take the place 
which God has assigned to them. In Christian education no single 

*Cf. his "Christian Nurture," written in 1846. 



THE RELIGION OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN 33 

factor can operate effectively. Only through the intelligent co- 
operation of home and school and church can we hope for success. 
The way to make Christian children is to have Christian fathers 
and mothers, and the time to begin making them is when they are 
children. We must keep this fact constantly in mind as we pass 
from this general survey of the religion of the average American 
to a more detailed study of particular problems. Though we may 
re-define the Church's task, we cannot alter its nature. Now as 
in every past age the function of the Christian Church is to win men 
and women to allegiance to Jesus Christ and to make His principles 
regnant in their lives wherever these lives may be lived. 



CHAPTER III 

EMERGING PROBLEMS 

1. New Elements Affecting the Religious Situation — The Shifting 
of Population — Immigration and the Negro 

Thus far we have been considering the religion of the average 
American — ^the impression of the religious condition of the country 
which we gain from a cross-section of the population — men, women, 
and children — without distinction of occupation, geographical loca- 
tion, or personal taste or idiosyncrasy. But already our study has 
brought to our attention disturbing features which render a more 
careful analysis necessary. There are large groups whose attitude 
toward religion would not be correctly represented by the preceding 
description, and there are widespread influences operating on the 
country at large which are producing changes in the existing situa- 
tion and are likely to do so to an increasing degree. These new 
influences we have now to consider. 

Some of them we have already briefly referred to: the changing 
conditions under which people are living; the rapid shifting of 
population from country to city, with its consequence in the growth 
of great cities, and the denuding of the country districts and the 
smaller communities. With the economic effects of this change 
we are already familiar, but the spiritual consequences are even 
more serious. It produces a sense of instability which prevents the 
formation of permanent attachments. Like the ancient Arab, the 
modern American is a dweller in tents, or, what comes to the same 
thing, in trunks. New York City is only the most conspicuous 
example of a tendency which is nation-wide. Its buildings are 
being continually torn down to be replaced by new ones, and while 
in use are occupied by a ceaseless stream of tenants. At whichever 
extreme we take our point of observation the result is the same. 
Twenty-seven years ago the author was a member of a committee 
to choose a site for the proposed Union Settlement on the upper 
East Side. Wandering through One Hundred and Fourth Street he 

34 



EMERGING PROBLEMS 35 

questioned a man standing at the door of a tenement: "What can 
you tell me of this neighborhood?" ''You have come to the right 
man," was the answer. "I have lived here longer than any one 
else." "And how long may that be?" "Three years." When the 
corner-stone of the new buildings of Union Theological Seminary 
was laid on Lenox Hill in 1884, Dr. Hitchcock, then president, con- 
gratulated the institution on having at last acquired a permanent 
home. To-day not one stone of the old buildings remains upon 
another. The eternity to which the eloquent speaker looked for- 
ward was in fact less than thirty years. 

The difficulty which results from this incessant change is mag- 
nified by the character of the units which are changing. From the 
first, different strands have entered into the making of the American 
people, and in recent years the complexity of our population has 
enormously increased. Immigration has been pouring into the coun- 
try year by year streams of people, ignorant of our language, our 
traditions, and our ideals, attracted to us by the promise of 
higher wages, greater comfort; but, above all, larger freedom. At 
first drawn largely from the British Isles and central Europe, they 
now come from Russia and the Balkans, as well as from the Near 
and the Far East. Calling upon the Protestant pastor at Baalbek 
in Syria twenty years ago I was accosted in good English by the wife 
of the local Greek priest. She had spent five years in New York as 
a peddler on the lower East Side, and she was expecting to return. 
It was a hope that seemed in every one's mind. The man who drove 
my camel in Egypt begged me to take him back to America, "the 
land of unlimited possibilities." 

With the consequences of this migration of the peoples we are 
only too familiar. Foreign cities have been growing up in the heart 
of America, preserving in language, customs, and ideals the habits 
of the country from which they came. New York has its Ghetto, 
its Little Italy, its Chinatown, its Bohemia, its Hungary. It has 
its Greek coffee-houses, and its Syrian restaurants where the new- 
comer may fraternize with men from his own country. In 
Harlem, which was yesterday a white man's city, one hundred 
thousand Negroes now make their homes. It is the same on a 
lesser scale the country over. A single ward of San Francisco con- 
tains thirty thousand Italians. In New Britain, Connecticut, a city 
of forty thousand people, twenty-six different languages are spoken. 



36 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

At the Student's Cosmopolitan Club ^ in New York City one can 
meet students of sixty-five nationalities. 

The war awakened us to the extent to which we had become 
a nation of nations. We discovered the foreign-language press.^ 
We learned how many of our foreign-born fellow Americans re- 
mained loyal to the country of their birth. But we learned also 
how effectively the great majority had been won to a new allegiance. 
The comrades in arms of our soldiers of foreign birth know how 
completely many of them identified themselves with the objects for 
which they were fighting; how truly America represented to them 
the cause of human liberty and progress. 

In 1915, there was organized in the Labor Temple of New York 
City the American International Church. Five different nationali- 
ties were represented in the services, and five different languages 
were used in the worship. Besides English-speaking Americans 
there were Italians, Russians, Hungarians, and Galicians. Their 
fellow-countrymen were fighting on opposite sides in the Great War 
— Italian and Russian against Hungarian and Galician — yet here 
they met on equal terms, as members of the Christian Church. 

Of special interest to the student of church affairs are two races 
whose presence within our borders presents peculiar problems, the 
Japanese of California, and the Mexicans who during these years 
of revolution have been pouring across our southern border in 
large numbers. Most Americans know something of the crisis 
caused by the presence of the Japanese on the west coast; but few 
Americans realize the gravity of the situation caused by the huge 
Mexican immigration of recent years. While no definite figures are 
obtainable, the most reliable estimates available put the number 
of Mexicans now in this country at about a million and a half,* and 
already the question as to what can be done to assimilate them and 
fit them to become worthy citizens of the country in which they 
have found a home has become a pressing one. 

Most serious of all in its magnitude and complexity is the prob- 

^A club on Morningside Heights, which brings together the foreign stu- 
dents of Columbia University and the affiliated institutions. 

'At a single news-stand on East Forty-second Street you may buy any 
morning a daily in any one of the following languages: Spanish, French, Ger- 
man, Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Slovak, Italian, Hungarian, and in many 
cases you may choose between two or three. 

"Cf. Stowell, 'The Near Side of the Mexican Question," New York, 1921. 



EMERGING PROBLEMS 37 

lem of the American Negro. A dozen years ago we thought of this 
as a Southern problem, but to-day we realize that it has become 
a national one; for the Negro, as little as the Italian, or the Slav, 
is content to remain in the situation in which his father left him. 
He, too, aspires to better himself in respect to property, education, 
and social standing. So great Negro communities are growing up 
in our Northern cities, and the problems with which we have become 
familiar in the South are repeating themselves on a smaller but still 
unmistakable scale in the North. Here, too, the problem is not 
simply economic and social, but in its deepest sense personal and 
religious. What do we propose to do with these black fellow- 
citizens of ours, brought here generations ago without their consent, 
but now linked to us by an indissoluble bond? One thing is certain, 
that the old attitude of subjection and docility inherited from the 
days of slavery has gone, never to return. The war taught the 
Negro that he was good enough to fight for his country by the side 
of the white man. Now he asks his country what sort of life 
he is to live with his white brothers since the war has been won. 

2. The Effect of Modem Industry — The Growth of Class 

Consciousness 

These more obvious difficulties of residence and race are accen- 
tuated by serious problems growing out of the economic and indus- 
trial situation. The rise of big business with its attendant factory 
system is itself one of the causes of the complications which we have 
been considering, but it brings with it other and more far-reaching 
consequences. 

We have spoken of changes in habits of life — of the breaking up 
of the family, due to the lack of permanent homes; of the uncer- 
tainty of employment, due to the fluctuation of supply and demand ; 
of the entrance of women and children into industry. But all these 
are but symptoms of something deeper, a change in the attitude of 
mind on the part of large numbers of people toward those earlier 
democratic ideals of liberty and equality which are celebrated in 
the school books as peculiarly American, and which gave their tone 
to the America of an earlier day. For many people in this country 
those ideals have vanished, or are vanishing. In their place we 
find the growth of a class consciousness which puts the group before 
the individual and is jealous of any advance that carries the favored 



38 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

few beyond their less able or gifted comrades. Any position in the 
commonwealth was open to the traditional schoolboy. But many 
thoughtful people in the ranks of labor no longer believe this to 
be the case. They have accepted the philosophy of class with all 
that this implies. They do not believe that it is possible for them 
to be anything else than what they are, nor do they desire it. 

We often me€t Americans who deprecate the existence of class 
consciousness and try to ignore it. They would like to think that 
America is still the land which they believe that it ought to be; the 
land which they have found it to be in their personal experience. It 
is natural that they should cherish this wish, but it is dangerous to 
let our eyes be blinded to the fact that for multitudes this America 
no longer exists. If there are no classes in America, it is true that 
there are many people who think that classes exist, and who shape 
their lives accordingly. 

A conspicuous example of class consciousness is the labor union. 
Both in its craft form as represented in the American Federation of 
Labor, and in its industrial form, as represented by the Amalga- 
mated Garment Workers and similar unions, its leaders accept the 
conventional division of mankind into capitalists and laborers, and 
devote their energy to increasing the rewards and improving the 
condition of the latter.^ This is quite consistent with the recogni- 
tion of the fact that the contrast is not an exclusive one; that the 
laborer may be a capitalist to a certain extent, and the capitalist 
may contribute his share of useful work. But this recognition can 
not obscure the fact that the livelihood of great numbers of men and 
women depends and, so far as we or they can see, will always depend 
upon the wages they earn; just as there are many who need never 
work at all unless they desire to, but may live at ease upon the in- 

^ While many of the older unions, particularly those connected with the 
American Federation of Labor, are conservative in their view of the relations 
between capital and labor, emphasizing their common interest in the industry 
which both alike serve, not a few of the more recent unions, particularly of 
the industrial form, have embodied the doctrine of the class war in the pream- 
ble of their constitutions. The most radical statement of this doctrine is that 
of the Industrial Workers of the World. 

"The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. . . . 
Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the 
world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of 
production, and abolish the wage system." 



EMERGING PROBLEMS 39 

come of their capital, and pass on the possibility of a similar life 
to their children. 

The labor movement in all its forms takes this fact for granted, 
and builds upon it not only a certain method of procedure, but, 
what is more important, a definite philosophy of life. It is a 
philosophy in which loyalty to class is the major virtue, and the 
scab (or the man who seeks private advancement at the cost of his 
class) is the incarnation of all the vices. 

It must be added that such class consciousness is not confined 
to the workingman. There are employers of labor who share it to 
the full. To them it seems natural that the few should command, 
and the many obey; and labor, instead of being the sum total of 
aspiring, hoping, suffering human beings, is a group which cherishes 
ambitions to which it has no right, and must be taught its place. 

This rivalry, implicit in the present relation of capital and 
labor, is deliberately and cleverly reinforced by the propaganda 
of the radicals. This propaganda takes many forms according to 
the school which it represents. Its more conservative form is rep- 
resented by the orthodox Socialists; its more extreme form by the 
communism of Lenine and Trotzky. The Industrial Workers of the 
World, with their repudiation of state socialism, and their theory 
of the One Big Union, are especially significant because of the field 
in which they operate. A less radical variant is Guild Socialism, 
which advocates the control of each industry as a whole by the 
workers, while vesting the ownership of the industry in the state. 

It is difficult to estimate the extent or the influence of this 
radical propaganda. According to the Lusk Committee,^ it is suffi- 
ciently extensive and influential to make legislative inquiry neces- 
sary.2 Other informants who have every motive to emphasize 
the strength of the radical forces wherever they can discover them, 
are convinced that the radicals have thus far made little progress, 

*The Lusk Committee is a committee appointed by the legislature of the 
State of New York "to investigate the scope, tendencies, and ramifications 
of . . . seditious activities and to report the result of its investigation to the 
Legislature." Its report of 4450 pages in four volumes was issued in 1920. 

^Cf. "Resolution Authorizing the Investigation of Seditious Activities." 
"It is a matter of public knowledge that there is a large number of persons 
within the State of New York engaged in circulating propaganda calculated to 
set in motion forces to overthrow the Government of this State and of the 
United States," p. L 



40 ' THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

and that the great body of the American labor movement, like the 
nation of which it is a part, is conservative. Certainly if deeds 
are to be the judge rather than words, there is little reason for alarm, 
provided our national industrial policies are sane, just, and progres- 
sive. But discontent thrives on repression, and if our reactionaries 
have their way, they may yet succeed in bringing about the con- 
sequences they profess to fear. 

One fact concerning the radical movement deserves serious con- 
sideration. It knows what it believes and why. It has a gospel to 
preach, and it preaches it in the only way in which any gospel can 
be preached, by the personal communication of man to man. It has 
its press and its schools, and whether we like it or not, it is teaching 
men to think who never thought before. Worthy of serious consid- 
eration is the following remark made in my hearing by a well-known 
agitator of the I. W. W., who had spent many months in jail. "You 
may say what you like about the I. W. W. But you cannot rob us 
of this, that we were the first people to put a social conscience ' 
into the casual laborer." 

In the radical labor movement, as in the race movement to 
which we have already referred, we have a point of contact with 
the wider world of international affairs. For America, as for all 
the other countries of the world, the great experiment which is 
being tried in Russia has been of crucial importance. As long as 
it was possible to represent this as a glowing success, our radicals 
were in possession of ammunition of which they knew how to make 
good use. Now that the weakness and probable ultimate failure of 
the Russian revolutionary programme has become apparent, the 
conservative element in the labor movement has been correspond- 
ingly strengthened. 

3. Resulting Changes in the Church's Missionary Task 

Our intention is not to describe the present condition of the 
labor movement, but to sketch briefly the conditions which the 
Church must face under the conditions of the new day. It is 
evident that these conditions are extraordinarily complex, necessitat- 
ing many changes from the organization and methods of a simpler 
age.^ 

*Cf. W. P. Shriver, "The New Home Mission of the Church," Committee 
on the War and the Religious Outlook, Association Press, New York, 1919. 



EMERGING PROBLEMS 41 

One of the cherished traditions of the author's family is of 
John Adams, once headmaster of Phillips Academy, Andover, who 
in his old age accepted service under the American Sunday-School 
Union and went out in his buggy through the newly settled districts 
of Illinois, bringing the people into the schoolhouse and organizing 
Sunday schools which later grew into churches. During the twelve 
years of his service he organized no less than three hundred and 
twenty-two schools with more than twenty-five hundred teachers 
and brought under the influence of the Christian religion more than 
sixteen thousand scholars.^ 

It is a typical picture of the life of the old-time home missionary, 
at once strenuous and simple. Our haunting problems of the why 
and the how were unknown to him. His duty was to take the 
Gospel, which all Christian people accepted, from the eastern and 
central parts of the country which were already adequately 
churched, to the frontier, ever pressing westward, in order that these 
new churches in turn, when they were strong enough to support 
themselves, might take up the work of home missions for the regions 
farther west. 

How different is the situation to-day! How different it is in 
extent! No single part of our country is home-missionary terri- 
tory to the exclusion of the rest. Everywhere we face the same 
problem of an unchurched population; in the East as well as in 
the West; in the city as well as in the country. Indeed, there is a 
sense in which New York City itself is the greatest home-mission 
field in the world. Our task is not to plant a few home-mission 
churches in frontier states where they will presently grow to self- 
support. It is to mobilize all the resources of the Church for the 
Christianization of the country as a whole. 

Nor is the change simply in the range, but also in the nature 
of the task. It is not a matter of converting individuals simply, 
but of changing their environment. The social consciousness, 
which we have already had occasion to note in connection with the 
woman movement and the labor movement, has pervaded home 
missions as well. We see that we have to deal not simply with 
individuals as individuals but with members of definite and sharply 
contrasted groups, each with its own background of race, religion, 

' M. E. and H. G. Brown, "The Story of a New England Schoolmaster," 
New York, 1900. 



42 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

economic and political ideals. We must study these ideals if we 
are to understand the people who cherish them, and this requires a 
much more elaborate preparation than the buggy and the Bible 
which were once the suflScient stock in trade of the successful 
missionary. 

These new demands require far-reaching changes in organiza- 
tion. We shall later on study these changes more in detail.^ We 
notice -now that they involve a growing specialization. Depart- 
ments are created for the study of special phases of the work. Sur- 
veys are made to serve as the basis of intelligent planning. The 
relation to the home church is being re-studied. It is clear that 
the time has come when we must re-define the responsibility of the 
national boards to those smaller and self-supporting units like the 
diocese, the classis, and the presbytery, which we have hitherto 
been in the habit of regarding as independent and self-sufficient. 

Above all, we are coming to see the importance of sound meth- 
ods of education. As in all teaching, the point of contact is the 
key to mastery. In the case of the people we have been trying to 
describe, this requires constant study and experiment. 

4. Emerging Problems — The Problems of Race, of Class, and 

of Nationality 

In the course of this study of the new home missions three major 
problems have emerged, the understanding of which is essential for 
the definition of the future task of the Church : the problem of race, 
the problem of class, the problem of nationality. 

In the first place, the problem of race. What ought to be the 
attitude of the Christian to these deep-seated differences which we 
have passed in review? In what sense ought the Church to recog- 
nize race as a fundamental fact, to be taken account of and provided 
for in our planning? What ought to be the Church's attitude to 
these new Americans coming to us as prospective citizens, yet still 
cherishing affection and loyalty for the land that gave them birth? 
Shall we discourage this loyalty and affection, or shall we see "in 
it an asset to be used in the making of a better America? What 
shall we do with the languages they speak, with their literature, 
their art, their religion? Can we use these as helps to the building 
of a finer character than could otherwise have been attained? And 

' Cf . Chapter XII. 



EMERGING PROBLEMS 43 

if so, how? How, in a word, in this most difficult and baffling field, 
shall we realize the Christian ideal of unity in variety — the body 
with the many members? 

The problem presses most heavily in connection with that race 
which forms so substantial a part of our population — the Amer- 
ican Negro. How shall we treat these ten millions whose lives 
are so inextricably intertwined with ours, and who are increasing 
in numbers every day? To our Christian faith they are sons and 
daughters of God our Father, disciples of Jesus Christ our Saviour, 
potential citizens in the Kingdom of God. How shall we express 
this faith in the practice of our American church? How far is the 
current practice of race segregation consistent with Christian prin- 
ciples? If not, in what respects should it be changed, and what 
steps should be taken to bring this change about? 

These are not simply theoretical questions. They meet us in 
practical forms which cannot be evaded. The doctrine of inherent 
race rivalry preached by such books as the recent "Rising Tide of 
Color" ^ is given practical effect in the conduct of multitudes of 
men; and here again, since we meet not simply the clash of practical 
interests but the strife of ideals, the Church has a stake in the mat- 
ter. It is the Church's responsibility, if not to settle all the ques- 
tions at issue, at least to lay down the principles by which they can 
be rightly settled, and what is even more important, to create the 
atmosphere in which the desire to settle them rightly can be born. 

Secondly, the problem of class. What shall be our attitude to 
the questions at issue between capital and labor? How far does the 
class consciousness which we have above briefly described represent 
a fact of human nature, of which honesty compels us to take ac- 
count? How is it to be reconciled with the Christian doctrine of the 
brotherhood of man, and the infinite worth of each human soul? It 
will not do to say that these are economic and industrial questions 
with which the Church as such has nothing to do; for the funda- 
mental fact about the labor movement is not economic but spiritual. 
It is an attitude of mind with which we are confronted, a philosophy 

* Stoddard, "The Rising Tide of Color against White World Supremacy," 
New York, 1920. Cf. especially this sentence from Mr. Madison Grant's 
preface: "Democratic ideals among an homogeneous population of Nordic 
blood, as in England or America, is one thing, but it is quite another for the 
white man to share his blood with, or entrust his ideals to, brown, yellow, 
black, or red men." (Italics are author's.) 



44 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of life; an attitude and a philosophy which call forth loyalty and 
devotion in many who hold them which can only be described as 
religious. How far are the new forces which this movement has 
released hostile to Christianity? How far are they merely the 
expression in a different form of the same social forces and spiritual 
aspirations of which the Gospel was bom? What has the Church to 
offer the leaders of this movement? What, on its part, can it learn 
from them? 

Many radicals maintain that the Church has been in the past, 
and still remains, an organ of privilege. They look upon it as the 
rich man's club or, if not that, at least the almoner of his bounty. 
They insist that it is committed to the maintenance of the present 
capitalistic system. At its best it is concerned with individual and 
personal matters, preaching a religion of contentment here in hope 
of a better world to come by and by.^ We cannot allow this picture 
of the Church to go unchallenged. But a mere denial will not be 
enough. We must show men the alternatives which we have to 
offer, and we must show them these alternatives so clearly that they 
will be understood. 

Finally, there is the problem of nationality, in many respects 
the most urgent and the most baffling of all. What shall be the 
attitude of the Church to the wave of patriotism which is sweeping 
over America, as it is sweeping over all the other nations of the 
world? How far is patriotism a Christian virtue? How shall we 
reconcile the internationalism of the Gospel with the emotions which 
every true American feels when he looks up at the Stars and Stripes? 

The question meets us in a hundred forms. It is implicit in 
almost every decision that we make. No vote we cast, no busi- 
ness transaction in which we engage but forces us to consider — if 
indeed it does not determine for us without consideration — how far 
we have a right to treat our country as ours alone, how far it is 
our duty to consider the needs and aspirations of other lands. 

The Christian view of nationality lies at the heart of the 
tariff question, the immigration question, the question of our mercan- 
tile marine. Our fathers came to this country as exiles and refugees 
to seek freedom of conscience, and a place in which to worship God 

* A sympathetic interpretation of the radical point of view is given by J. J. 
Coale, in his article, "Protestantism and the Masses," Yale Review, October, 
1921. 



EMERGING PROBLEMS 45 

in their own way. But there are still countries where people arc 
oppressed and where men are denied the right to worship God as 
their conscience dictates. Has the time indeed come when the 
refuge America offered to our fathers can rightly be denied to these 
other oppressed and needy children of God, for whom He cares as 
truly as for us? 

The same issue meets us in our foreign relations. Senator 
and ambassador may repeat Cain's ancient question: "Am I my 
brother's keeper?" But we are learning that blood brotherhood is 
a tie which cannot so easily be severed. We may try to ignore 
Europe, but Europe will not ignore us. Evade the issue as we may, 
we shall find that our very denial of international responsibilities 
brings us face to face with international dangers. What is there in 
this fact of nationality that seems to lead so inevitably to conflict 
with men who ask only the right to feel toward their own country 
as we feel toward ours? The Church has something to say about 
this conflict of patriotisms. It has a loyalty to offer which makes 
place for all the lesser loyalties of race and class and nation. It 
opens a horizon which carries us beyond the confines of our country 
and requires us to envisage the world as a whole. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE WIDER OUTLOOK 

1. Chief Points of Contact between American Christianity 

and International Problems 

Thus far we have been analyzing the task of the American 
Church from the point of view of the homeland, for whose Christian- 
ization we are primarily responsible. We have studied the religion 
of the average American, as it is revealed to us in the life of the 
young men gathered in the camps by the military draft and in the 
experience of the fathers and mothers from whose homes they came. 
We have taken into account the exceptional groups whose changing 
occupation forces them into new conditions; children facing the 
disintegration of the home ; women entering industry in ever larger 
numbers, and sharing for the first time the responsibilities and 
problems of men; immigrants introducing into the relatively homo- 
geneous life of the older America new factors of language and of 
tradition; the labor movement with its growing class consciousness, 
and its challenge to the older theory of American democracy. Out of 
this situation we have seen three problems emerging with which 
the Church of the future must deal: the problem of race, the prob- 
lem of class, and the problem of nationality. But these are not 
problems confined to any one coimtry or to any one branch of the 
Church. To approach them understandingly we must see them in 
their larger setting, as they affect other nations than our own. 

During the early days of the war the author's work as Secretary 
of the General War-Time Commission of the Churches took him to 
the Brooklyn Navy Yard which had been transformed into a naval 
training station. In company with the resident chaplain he visited 
the men's barracks and made the acquaintance of the new recruits, 
clean, manly-looking fellows of whom any country might be proud. 
But what impressed him most was the fact that they had come 
so largely from the fresh-water states. Many of them had never 
seen the sea. To most of them, enlistment brought the first oppor- 

46 



THE WIDER OUTLOOK 47 

tunity to leave their own country and touch the wider world of 
which America is a part. 

What was true of the navy was true on a far larger scale of 
the army. The war carried to the remotest hamlet of the nation 
the news that America was no longer an isolated country, but a 
member of the family of nations, linked to the fortunes of her 
sisters across the sea by indissoluble ties and prepared, if need be, 
to spend all that she had in a contest which was fought three thou- 
sand miles from her own shores. 

To millions of Americans this was a revolutionary experience. 
The war brought a rude shock to their former preconceptions and 
habits. Even when they were convinced that it was inevitable and 
had resigned themselves to do what was necessary to bring it to a 
successful conclusion, they could not shake off the conviction that 
it was, after all, but an episode. When peace came, or at all events 
very soon after, they were confident that the nation could resume 
its interrupted occupations where they had been broken off, keep its 
sons at home, and leave Europe to deal with its own difficulties. 
It was this widely spread feeling which made it possible for a little 
group in the Senate to block President Wilson's attempt to secure 
the whole-hearted co-operation of the American people in the task 
of international reconstruction. Only slowly and by a process 
of education which will take wisdom and patience can the country 
as a whole be brought to realize that what has happened is not 
an episode, but only the last and most dramatic chapter of a history 
which reaches back to the beginnings of the nation's life. 

Long before the first troops of the American Expeditionary 
Force took ship for France, others of their fellow-countrymen had 
preceded them in international enterprises. Some of them had gone 
in quest of trade, like the early merchants whose admission to Japan 
was made possible by the peaceful embassage of Commodore Perry. 
Others had been moved by missionary zeal, like the Williams Col- 
lege students who went from their meeting by the haystack to 
win the world for Christ. Still others went in search of learning 
or art, or in the simple human desire to relieve suffering. All 
through our national history in varying degrees these motives have 
been operating, and the experiences gained and the contacts formed 
in these ways have helped to prepare America to meet under- 
standingly the new problems and responsibilities which she faces 



48 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

to-day. Of the many points of contact between our own country 
and other nations two have special importance for our present pur- 
pose: that furnished by foreign missions in the widest sense of that 
term, and the more recent appeal made to the sympathies of the 
American public by the suffering which was the aftermath of the 
war. 

2. Foreign Missions, a Factor in Educating America 

for Internationalism 

The most direct point of contact between American Christianity 
and the outside world before the war was the foreign-missionary 
enterprise. Through this enterprise generations of Americans had 
been educated to realize their kinship with other peoples and to feel 
responsibility for their welfare. But this contact was confined to 
a relatively small section of the American people, and its far-reach- 
ing significance for our international relations is only now for the 
first time coming to be realized. The war has put a knowledge of 
the habits and aspirations of other peoples at a premium, and 
besides knitting closer the ties which already bind this country to 
Europe has made the nation realize the possible significance, for 
weal or woe, of those great masses of men who inhabit the Near and 
the Far East. 

It will give us the true perspective for judging the closer and 
more intimate relations into which the war has brought us with 
Europe if we begin by considering the world situation as a whole, 
as it appears to those observers whose judgment as to the signifi- 
cance of what they see has been ripened by long acquaintance with 
the foreign-missionary enterprise. We can do this the more readily 
as the information has been gathered for us in convenient form in 
a recent publication of the Committee on the War and the Religious 
Outlook, entitled, 'The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the 
War." 1 

The book is the joint contribution of more than fifty persons 
from different countries and societies, and is an interesting illustra- 
tion of the educative effect of foreign missions upon those who 
participate in them. Mr. Israel Zangwill recently expressed in the 
New Republic^ his surprise at finding a missionary review which 

' Association Press, New York, 1920. 
""June 25, 1919. 



THE WIDER OUTLOOK 49 

chanced to fall into his hands so alert and well informed on inter- 
national questions. Had he read this volume his surprise might 
have been greater still. Its authors agree in reporting a new self- 
consciousness on the part of the peoples of the East, which takes 
the form of a demand for national independence and self-govern- 
ment.^ In Asia and Africa, as in Europe and America, nations as 
well as individuals aspire to be their own masters, to lead their own 
lives, and to direct their own destinies. What Irishmen are de- 
manding of England, Hindus and Egyptians are also asking. What 
Poland and the Balkans desire for themselves is the aspiration of 
Armenians, Syrians, and Arabs. The legitimate desire of the Jap- 
anese for territory in which to expand so that they may feed their 
rapidly increasing population, is met by the stout resistance of 
Chinese and of Koreans who claim sovereignty over their own 
territories and refuse to recognize the rights of the invader. 

This tide of national self-consciousness carries with it other 
changes of a far-reaching character. We find a strong interest in 
education, a changing economic and industrial system, and, above 
all, the beginnings of a new position for women. It is true that 
these changes are only in their infancy. But no one can predict 
how rapid their growth will be or how far they will lead us. 

A striking illustration of what these new forces mean in the 
educational life of the East is furnished by Professor Dewey's 
recent experience in China. For centuries China has been conspicu- 
ous for the conservatism of its educational system. Yet the Chinese 
invited the foremost educational authority of the Western world to 
lecture to them on the philosophy of education. All recent visitors 
to China report an extraordinary educational revival, and those 
who have had the opportunity of meeting the students who are 
finding their way to this country in increasing numbers realize that 
in native ability, power of concentration, and maturity of judgment, 
the Chinese student can, to say the least, hold his own with the 
students of other countries. 

It is too soon to forecast the outcome of the new movement. 
We have seen in Russia what may take place when a premature 
attempt is made to graft a different system upon a stock which is 
not prepared for it. In China popular education is a thing of yes- 
terday, and though the invention of the modern script removes one 

* Cf. "The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War," p. 28. 



50 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of the most serious diflBculties in the way of teaching the masses to 
read and write, it will be long before the experiment has gone far 
enough to make confident prediction as to its outcome possible. 

The economic and industrial life of the Eastern peoples is also 
changing. Japan offers the most instructive example. In Japan 
as in our own country the rapid rise of great manufacturing centres, 
drawing their labor from all parts of the country, has affected the 
habits of the masses. All the vexed problems of human relation- 
ships and ideals at which we have already glanced in previous 
chapters are involved in such a process. 

What is going on in Japan on a large scale is beginning in 
China and in India. In Shanghai there are cotton mills owned, 
operated, and managed by Chinese who have received their training 
in the University of Texas. The same will be true in other cities as 
soon as the proper facilities for transportation have been created. 

The movement for the enfranchisement of women,^ though still 
in embryo in countries like India and China, is very much alive 
and no one can foresee what its ultimate outcome will be. One of 
the recent unofficial delegations to this country in connection with 
the Disarmament Conference included Madame Yajima, a lady 
who represents what is best in the spirit of the new Japan. Such a 
visit would have been unthinkable a few years ago. The leaven is 
working even in Mohammedan countries, and there are indications 
that the women of the Near East as well as of the Far East will 
soon no longer be content with the intellectual seclusion to which 
the marriage customs of their country have hitherto condemned 
them. 

Race kinship as well as national self-consciousness is asserting 
itself in various ways, as in the Zionist movement among the Jews 
and the recent Pan-African movement among the Negroes. This 
fact is being used in certain quarters to check the growing inter- 
national spirit. We are warned that the rising tide of color is a 
menace to the world's peace and to meet it the white peoples should 
arm to the teeth.^ There seems little reason for such fear. Race is 
indeed a powerful tie, but by itself it has not proved as strong as 
some alarmists would have us believe. There are rivalries between 
peoples of the same race which are as bitter and have been as pro- 



1 << 

2 



The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War," pp. 67 sq. 
Cf. p. 43. 



THE WIDER OUTLOOK 51 

longed as those between peoples of different race. The World War 
amply demonstrated this point. Even if this were not true such a 
race menace would be an argument for more international friendli- 
ness rather than for less. 

Yet while the growing race consciousness may not lead to war 
it is none the less true that it may hamper the Christian spirit in 
many ways. We have seen this already in our own country in con- 
nection with the Negro question. In the international sphere it reap- 
pears on a larger scale and creates difficulties of a formidable kind. 
Noticeable among the effects of the war has been the loss of 
confidence in Western leadership. The war which has shattered so 
many ideals has given an irreparable blow to European prestige. 
The early respect for the superior knowledge of the foreigner, the 
willingness to take his counsel and follow his advice, which 'was 
apparent in the earlier relations of the East with Europe, has been 
sadly shaken. Asiatics and Africans fought in Europe against 
white men during the war and have carried back to their homes a 
very different report of the state of European civilization from that 
which has been given to them by the missionaries. They have seen 
its weakness as well as its strength and are not likely to forget 
what they have seen. Henceforth the peoples who have been con- 
tent to accept Western models mean to judge for themselves and to 
shape their lives in their own way. 

The reflex influence of these tendencies upon Christianity has 
on the whole been less unfavorable than might have been antic- 
ipated. Far from disproving the Christian religion, the war has 
made it seem to many thoughtful Eastern observers more desirable 
and admirable. What has been disproved is the claim of Europe 
and America to be Christian nations. Had they been Christian (so 
reason thoughtful Chinese with whom the author has talked) the 
war would never have been possible. 

Unquestionably those who go to China and Japan as representa- 
tives of Western civilization will be subjected in the future to a more 
rigorous scrutiny than in the past. They will be obliged to prove 
their disinterestedness by helping the Asiatic peoples to develop 
their own methods of progress and cannot hope to impose upon them 
unmodified Western ideals. 

True in all departments of social life, this will be particularly 
true in religion. In Japan a native Christian church is already 



52 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

in existence. In China and India its beginnings are apparent.^ 
Chinese and Hindus are no longer content to reproduce in their own 
country the divisions of oiu* Western Christianity. If they must 
divide they will divide on their own .lines and on issues which have 
present meaning for them. 

These issues, if present indications are any guide as to the 
future, will be, far more largely than with us, moral and social is- 
sues. The theological disputes which gave us the ancient creeds 
have lost meaning to Eastern Christians; but questions of social 
justice, national independence, and individual morals are living 
questions, and on them they expect the Church to take a stand. 
What, they ask, has Christianity to say about the sale of opium 
in China? What about Shantung? What about the treatment of 
the Japanese in California? What about the situation which has 
been created by the Japanese conquest of Korea? 

Under these influences the foreign-missionary enterprise develops 
and expands before our eyes. From the first the missionaries were 
many-sided men, keenly interested in the social conditions of the 
countries to which they came, and eager to provide for them the 
broadest possible ministry.^ But the consciousness of a responsi- 
bility for changing the environment as well as the spirit of men 
has been greatly reinforced by recent events. Modern missionaries 
take it for granted that their calling may lead them to study eco- 
nomic and industrial as well as theological questions and to establish 
colleges and hospitals in addition to churches. 

Especially noticeable has been the effect of the new problems 
upon the attitude of the missionaries to one another. The differ- 
ences which divide Christians have shrunk into relative insignif- 
icance in the face of the needs of a non-Christian civilization. 
Nowhere has co-operation between the churches been carried so • 
far. Union schools and hospitals exist in many mission fields. 
Even in theological education the obstacles have not proved in- 
surmountable. There is not a single theological seminary in the 
United States supported jointly by the authorities of different 
denominations. There are six such institutions in China.^ 

^ Cf . ''The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War," pp. 87, 96 sq. 

^Cf. Speer, "The Social Spirit of the Missionary Founders," Constructive 
Quarterly, March, 1921. 

^ It is quite true that the elementary character of the instruction given in 
these schools has made co-operation easier than would be the case with insti- 



THE WIDER OUTLOOK 53 

This consciousness of a united responsibility has found signal 
expression in such gatherings as the Edinburgh and Panama Confer- 
ences. It has created organs for its activities in the various Con- 
tinuation Committees at home and on the field ;^ most notably in 
the Foreign Missions Conference of North America which brings 
together annually for mutual counsel and deliberation all the more 
important foreign-missionary agencies of the United States and 
Canada. In the International Review of Missions it has an organ 
which serves riot only as a reliable source of information as to 
what is being done in the various mission fields, but also, what is 
far more important, as a forum for the discussion of principles 
and policies as between the missionaries in the field and those who 
are supporting them at home.^ In a later chapter we shall study 
the co-operative movement in the home chm"ch, and we shall find 
that at almost every point it is following a course which has been 
anticipated in the foreign field. 

The foreign-missionary movement is peculiarly instructive be- 
cause of the light which it sheds upon the course which is likely to 
be taken by our home Christianity. It shows us not only that 
our problems in America are like the problems which other nations 
are facing; they are the same problems, and because they belong 
to all of us alike, they can only be solved together.^ It was not 

tutions of higher grade. The real test will come when Young China claims 
the right to shape its own theological instruction after the models of the free 
institutions of the West. The campaign now being carried on by the Bible 
Union in China in favor of a literal interpretation of the Bible and the result- 
ing theological tension among missionaries is an indication of the fact that 
the same differences of belief which have made unity difficult in the home 
field are certain to reproduce themselves in the foreign field. Much will de- 
pend for the future of Christianity, not only abroad but at home, upon the 
spirit in which these difficulties are met. 

^E.g. the International Missionary Council, which is the successor of the 
Continuation Committee of the Edinburgh Conference; the Committee on 
Co-operation in Latin America, the organ of the Panama Conference; the 
China Continuation Committee; the National Missionary Council of India, 
organized as a result of Dr. Mott's tour in 1912 and 1913. Action taken at 
the last meeting of the National Missionary Council proposes a reorganization 
of the Council on a more representative basis, in which churches as well as 
missions shall become the units of representation. Cf. "Kesolutions of the 
National Missionary Council," Poona, 1922, pp. 20 sq. 

^Cf. W. Adams Brown, "Ten Years ... of the Review," International Re- 
view of Missions, January, 1922. 

^ Cf. the author's pamphlet, "Modem Missions in the Far East," New York, 
1917, pp. 20 sq. 



54 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

an accident that the writers of the missionary review which so 
impressed Mr. Zangwill were keenly interested in international poli- 
tics. It is not an accident that writer after writer in the volume 
on 'The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War" discusses the 
League of Nations.^ These topics are forced upon the missionaries 
by the nature of the situation in which they find themselves. They 
preach Christianity to the Chinese, but influences emanate from 
Europe and America which make the Christianization of the Chinese 
difficult if not impossible. They hold up an ideal of brotherhood 
and peace, but forces are in operation which constrain their con- 
verts to separation and war. How can we expect Japan to treat 
China on Christian principles if France, England, and the United 
States decide their relations to weaker peoples on grounds of self- 
interest or expediency? Unless we can show that Christianity is 
practicable everywhere it is difficult to see how it can be practicable -^ 
anywhere. The old principle of each for himself has broken down 
in politics no less than in religion. All nations must learn to live 
together in peace if there is to be hope of peace for any nation. 

So a study of the foreign-missionary enterprise brings us into 
the heart of present international questions. These, too, form part 
of the problem with which the Church must deal, for they bear 
directly upon the lives of the men and women to whom the Church 
ministers. 

3. Suffering as a Teacher of International Brotherhood 

and Responsibility 

A second point of contact between American Christianity and 
the international situation is the appeal that comes to us for relief 
from the suffering peoples of the war-stricken lands. Touching 
human sympathy in the most elementary way, it reaches many who . 
have not yet felt the importance of the missionary enterprise. 

There was a time when suffering was accepted as the natural lot 
of man, to be endured with as much fortitude as one could command. 
There are countries where this opinion still prevails. Famine, 
pestilence, war with its devastation are accepted as natural phe- 
nomena like storm or drought. The Chinese pilgrims have for 
centuries thrown coins to the beggars that line the road leading 
from Hangchow to the monastery of Lin Yin. But it is to acquire 

'Cf. pp. 17 sq., pp. 294 sq., p. 301. 



THE WIDER OUTLOOK 55 

merit for themselves, not out of compassion for the sufferers. It 
has never occurred to anyone that this suffering could be prevented 
or these diseases healed. ''Remove the beggars!" exclaimed a 
Buddhist abbot to one who asked why the Church did not care 
for these sufferers; "That would never do. Kwannon (the goddess 
of mercy) would be angry. How could we worship her acceptably 
if there were no beggars to whom to give alms?" 

Once in a .while we discover this attitude of mind at home. 
There is an island in Maine where a plague of tuberculosis recently 
threatened to destroy the little population. A nurse was sent by 
the Sea Coast Missionary Society to try to check the plague and to 
save the lives of the children by teaching them sanitary habits. 
Soon after her arrival she was asked by one of the older inhabitants 
to cease her nursing work on the ground that she was interfering 
with the will of God. "You stick to religion," he said to the nurse, 
"and don't go interfering with our health. The Almighty sent this 
sickness to plague us. When He gets through punishing us He will 
stop." 

This primitive conception of suffering is, however, rare among 
us. Suffering wherever found, in whatever nation, or race, or class, 
is considered among Western nations a challenge to help. Charity 
has become an international virtue. The Red Cross knows no fron- 
tier. So when a calamity like the late war falls upon the world, it 
annuls the boundaries of nationality and reveals our kinship as 
human beings. The thirty million dollars raised by Hoover for the 
starving peoples of Europe, the vast sums secured by the Near East 
Relief Commission, and the yet other millions contributed for the 
China Famine Relief Fund are but conspicuous examples of an out- 
reaching charity which has made America loved in great areas of 
human suffering. 

But the question continually recurs: "Why should we spend 
our substance in repairing war's damage when the causes which 
produce war are suffered to operate unchecked?" Charity is no 
doubt a Christian duty, but at best it is a makeshift, a device to 
tide over a crisis till some more permanent help can be supplied. 
The true ideal for the Christian is not to give alms to the man 
who is down, but to help him to stand upon his feet. We do well to 
feed suffering Austrian children, but we shall not nave done our 
full duty until we have helped Austria to feed her own children. 



56 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

The same is true of all the peoples to whom we are asked to extend 
help. 

Armenia is a case in point. During the past three years the 
American people through the Near East Relief Fund have expended 
more than sixty million dollars to care for the unhappy peoples of 
the Near East. The larger part of this has gone to the Armenians. 
Yet after all these years of labor and effort the situation seems as 
precarious as ever. Many sufferers have been relieved and many 
orphans fed and sheltered, but the causes which have produced 
this condition still continue. Still Turkish vengeance threatens 
the remnant of this afflicted people and the rivalries of the great 
powers and our own policy of non-interference have made it im- 
possible to take effective steps to protect them. How futile to go 
on treating symptoms while we allow the disease to rage unchecked! 
How impossible to pretend indifference to the political situation 
in Europe when it affects directly not only the pocket-books but 
the Christian sympathies of more than ten million Americans ! 

We have spoken of Armenia because it is a case which to an 
extraordinary degree has awakened the sympathies of Americans; 
but it is only one of many points of danger on the international 
horizon. Some we have already touched on, but only a few. In 
the Far East there are Korea and Manchuria; in the Near East, 
Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt; in Europe, the Balkans, Poland, and 
Silesia, not to speak of the ever-threatening menace of Russia. 
England must deal with India, and we must consider our relations 
with Mexico and Japan. While these conditions continue, states- 
men cannot but be anxious and efforts to bring about disarmament 
meet with resolute opposition. 

But our dissatisfaction with the present international situation 
goes even deeper than this. It involves our entire philosophy of 
life. As Christians we are committed to the ideal of world-wide 
co-operation and brotherhood. The present system proceeds on a 
diametrically opposite assumption. It takes for granted an inherent 
antagonism of interest between nations and races. Christians be- 
lieve that all men are children of a common Father, meant by Him 
to live together in mutual helpfulness and peace. So believing, we 
cannot rest until we have found a way to live out this faith, not 
simply as individuals but as citizens and as patriots. 



THE WIDER OUTLOOK 57 

4. The Church and the League of Nations 

That is why the proposal for a League of Nations met with so 
enthusiastic a response on the part of Christians everywhere. It 
was a definite attempt to deal with this ever-present danger at its 
source. It was the suggestion of a new method of approach to 
international relations — the method of conference and co-operation 
instead of secrecy and isolation. It invited a different attitude on 
the part of statesmen, an attitude of trust and confidence, instead of 
one of suspicion and fear. The acclamation with which the proposal 
of the League was received in the most widely separated circles, 
no less than the deep despondency and even despair with which its 
momentary failure has been followed, is the best witness to the fact 
that it touched some deeper chord than is reached by our conven- 
tional politics; that it expressed those underlying yearnings which 
belong not to any one nation or group of nations, but to man as 
man; that, in short, its appeal passed beyond politics into religion. 

It was inevitable, then, that religious people should actively 
interest themselves in the League of Nations. No political issue for 
a generation received such instant and whole-hearted support from 
the churches.^ While it is true that the recent campaign against 
the League has led many of its former advocates to recognize weak- 
nesses and dangers in its present form which will need to be cor- 
rected, those who are responsible for the present conduct of the 
nation's affairs will make a grave mistake if they interpret the pres- 
ent disposition of their constituency to allow them large latitude 
in finding the way in which that correction can be made, as indicat- 
ing any loss of faith in the central purpose for which the League 
was created or any weakening of the will to realize it. When all 
has been said against the League that can be said, the fact remains 
that it is the first serious attempt to write into the law of nations 
the principle that there is a sovereignty higher than that of the 
individual nation; the first real effort to devise machinery through 

^ Between February and July, 1919, the League was endorsed, among others, 
by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., by the 
Northern Baptist Convention, by the Protestant Episcopal Synod of New Eng- 
land, by the Congregational Conference of Southern California, by the Metho- 
dists, at their Centenary Celebration, as well as by the Federal Council of 
the Churches of Christ in America. 



58 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

which common human interests can find orderly recognition and 
protection. The particular plan which President Wilson brought 
back from Paris may need to be modified or replaced by a better, 
but the ideal which it enshrines will never die. For it is the old 
ideal of Isaiah and of Jesus — the ideal of a family of nations, wor- ' 
shipping one God, conscious of one destiny, co-operating in one 
brotherhood. If the churches are silent in the face of such an 
issue; if in this crisis of the world's history their influence is not 
felt on behalf of some ideal which transcends that of the individual 
nation, they will be recreant to their calling and will see the moral 
leadership of the nation pass to other hands. 

The appeal of General Bliss to the churches ^ about disarmament 
has been often quoted. It will bear quoting again. Speaking to the 
preachers of the United States he said, ''If the clergymen of the 
United States want to secure a limitation of armaments they can 
do it now without any further waste of time. If, on an agreed-upon 
date, they simultaneously preach one sermon on this subject, in 
every church of every creed throughout the United States, and con- 
clude their services by having their congregation adopt a resolution 
addressed to their particular congressman urging upon him the neces- 
sity of having a business conference of five nations upon this subject, 
the thing will be done. If the churches cannot agree upon that it 
will not be done, nor will it be done until the good God puts into . 
them the proper spirit of their religion. The responsibility is en- 
tirely upon the professing Christians of the United States. If 
another war like the last one should come, they will be responsible 
for every drop of blood that will be shed and for every dollar 
wastefully expended." 

Limitation of armaments is but the first step in the campaign 
against war. Armaments are effects which are produced by states 
of mind. General O'Ryan was quite right when, in a recent address 
to the students of more than forty Eastern colleges, assembled at 
Princeton to discuss disarmament, he said, "If you wish to abolish 
war you must go back further than a limitation of armaments or 
even beyond absolute disarmament. Men will fight with scythes, 
stones, and any other weapons they may have . . . unless something 
is done to stop this by looking after men's emotions and creeds." ^ 

*In a letter to the Church Peace Union, in May, 1921. 
'New York Times, October 27, 1921. 



THE WIDER OUTLOOK 59 

These emotions and creeds— the raw material out of which wars 
are made— are built up slowly step by step by what you and I 
do in our daily lives as citizens, as we pass judgment on the va- 
rious questions which involve the relation of our own nation to 
others in the practical conduct of its everyday affairs. It is because 
we have formed the habit of thinking of our own nation as an inde- 
pendent moral unit, claiming the allegiance of its own citizens, but 
in its relation to other nations bound by no law but its own self- 
interest, that we allow ourselves to become involved in situations 
which, when they arise, force us into war against our will. When 
that time comes it is too late to draw back. The mischief is already 
done. If ever a nation tried not to go to war, we tried from 1914 
to 1917, but we found it impossible. What has happened once may 
happen again. It will happen again unless while there is time we 
take steps to see that it shall not. 

Thus this matter of armament becomes a symbol of something 
far deeper and more momentous, something which cuts to the very 
heart of the life of mankind. Bishop Nicholai expressed it in these 
moving words to the students of the Cosmopolitan Club:i 

"I find myself to-night speaking to the whole world. Who can 
speak to the world but He who loves the world? God alone can do 
it, for He alone really loves the world. Christ tried his best to 
teach men we are the sons of God. Europe throughout the nine- 
teenth century tried her hardest to teach men they were animals 
and the sons of animals. The first teaching leads to humanity 
and peace; the second teaching leads to disdain of humanity and 
war. Friends, we must train ourselves systematically for love 
of humanity. First we must learn to have compassion with suffer- 
ing humanity; then we must learn to respect its efforts and strug- 
gles; and finally, out of compassion and respect, love will be born 
in our hearts." ^ 

It seems so simple. We have time for everything else. We are 
training men for this and that— to be doctors, lawyers, diplomats, 
soldiers, sailors. Has not the time come to train men for love? 
No one of all the multiplying contacts of our modern world but 
carries with it the opportunity for an enlarged fellowship, if rightly 
understood. This interpretation is the Church's business. We must 

'Cf. p. 36, note 1. 

'Reprinted in 'Tan-Humanity/' New York, 1921. 



60 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

train men for love by showing them the bearing of the common 
things they do upon the great ideals they profess. Only by patient, 
intelligent, long-continued training can we create the habits of 
feeling and thinking, or as General O'Ryan would put it, "the 
emotions and creeds," which will make co-operation with men of 
other nations seem natural and desirable. 

A renewed confidence in the efficacy of love is the world's par- 
amount need to-day.^ Trace any one of our troubles to its source 
and we come to a difficulty of the spirit. When we lose faith in our 
neighbor's capacity for good we open the door to fear. Until this 
fear is exorcised we can make no real progress. When trust is 
restored, all else will be possible. To replace fear with trust is 
the Church's supreme mission. By its success or failure here it must 
finally be judged. 

*In a recent number of the New York Evening Post appeared two letters 
under date of December 30, 1921, which, written for different purposes, are 
alike in bearing testimony to the efficacy of love as a solution of the world's 
practical difficulties. The first, commenting on Lord Shaw of Dunfermline's 
recently published "Letters to Isabel," quotes the following from a letter by 
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, written at the close of the Boer War: *'It 
is not by force of arms that South Africa will be lost, but by misgovernment, 
and instead of blustering about reinforcements and army reform, or— shall we 
say— platitudinizing about commercial education, it would be well if our 
eminent ones applied themselves to this problem, How to make those love us 
who now hate us. A fine New Year's sentiment, if ever there was one." The 
author adds: "Many a time in the years since then I have thought of that 
sentence, 'How to make those love us who now hate us.' It is the pure gold 
of statesmanship." 

The other repeats the last message of Lord Grey, the late Governor-Gen- 
eral of Canada, who said when dying, "I want to say to people that there is 
a real way out of all this mess materialism has got them into. It is Christ's 
way. We've got to give up quarrelling. We've got to realize we are all mem- 
bers of the same family. There's nothing that can help humanity— I'm per- 
fectly sure there is not— except love. Love is the way out, and the way up. 
That is my farewell to the world." 



PART II 



WHERE TO BEGIN 



CHAPTER V 

WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 

1. The American Churchy an Experiment in Democracy 

Like the nation which it serves, the American Church is a com- 
plex phenomenon. No historian has yet been found to attempt such 
a comprehensive interpretation of its genius as Viscount Bryce has 
given us of the genius of the nation in his "American Common- 
wealth." A generation ago Dr. Philip Schaff called attention to this 
need, but the American Church history which he edited is little more 
than a series of denominational histories, and the last of these ap- 
peared more than twenty years ago.^ A summary of the main facts 
concerning the denominations is given by Dr. Carroll in his "Re- 
ligious Forces of the United States," ^ and more fully in the United 
States Census of Religious Bodies for 1916.^ But these give us only 
the body, not the spirit, of American Christianity. The needed in- 
terpretation of American Christianity as a whole has not yet been 
attempted. 

Yet the attempt would be singularly rewarding. For in the 
American Church, we have a contribution to the history and possi- 
bilities of religion worthy of far more attention than it has yet 
received. In the United States we see religion coming to terms 
with democracy; rejecting state control, and with this rejection all 
claim to state support; declaring itself competent to meet its own 
problems and discharge its own responsibilities without outside aid, 
even the supreme responsibility of training the rising generation for 
religion. We have had occasion already to note some of the points 
in which it has failed. It would be a mistake not to be equally 
appreciative of its successes. 



1 u 



^ 'American Church History," New York, 1893-97, thirteen volumes. 
^^ ^; ^- Carroll, ''Religious Forces of the United States," Revised edition 
New York, 1912. ' 

'"Religious Bodies, 1916," Vol. I, "Summary and General Tables"; Vol II 
Separate Denommations." Published by the Federal Census Bureau Wash- 
ington, D. C. Cf. Peter G. Mode, "Source Book and Bibliographical Guide 
tor American Church History, Menasha, Wisconsin, 1921. 

63 



64 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Perhaps the greatest of these is the extent to which it has suc- 
ceeded in impressing the average Christian with his responsibility 
for supporting the institutions of religion. We see the weakness of 
the American Church; its irregular and in many respects unlovely 
development; the curious types of religion to which it has given rise; 
the multiplicity of rival sects ; the lack of the sense of beauty and of 
dignity; the loss of the consciousness of the historic past of which 
it is heir. We do not always realize as we should that these are 
only the counterpart in religion of the democratic experiment in the 
nation — ^the price of an experience which, with much that is uncouth 
and regrettable, has yielded also much that is of inestimable value 
to mankind. 

The history of the American Church, could it but be studied with 
the sympathy and understanding which it deserves, would give us 
a key to the understanding of the American people. In both we 
see the same irregular and unplanned development. In both we 
find the spirit of the pioneer reaching out into the uncharted wil- 
derness, careless of the conventions of the home-land from which 
he came, yet a child of that home-land none the less, carrying with 
him into his new environment ideals and aspirations that he did not 
create. We see him played upon by a thousand influences both old 
and new. Each ship that brings him his supplies of food and 
tools brings him also ideas embodied in men and women. Puritan 
and Cavalier build side by side and worship as they build, each in 
his own way. Yet the Episcopacy of Virginia differs from the Ang- 
licanism that gave it birth as truly as the Congregationalism of New 
England differs from the older Puritanism from which it sprang. 
Immigrant follows immigrant: Scotch, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, French, 
German, and each group brings its own type of religion. To under- 
stand the story you must consult the United States Census of 
Religious Bodies, as well as the records of the commissioner on 
Elirs Island. Each separate religious type, being free to develop as 
it will, tries its own experiment and comes to terms as it may with 
the new influences that surround it. Under these many forms reli- 
gion shares in the struggle against nature in forest and prairie; in 
the rapid immigration from state to state; in the new problems of 
government, civil and religious ; in the world-old problem of recon- 
ciling liberty and order. Each type responds in its own way to the 
influences that are welding the nation into a unity. The growth of 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 65 

the democratic spirit, the jealous purpose to guard a newly won 
freedom against European encroachment, the strengthening of the 
national consciousness in the Civil War, the sense of unbounded 
possibilities that came with the great development which followed 
the war— all these interacting influences have helped to make out of 
the American churches, in a far deeper and truer sense than we our- 
selves realize, the American Church. 

Let us sketch, if we can, some of the salient features of the 
Church to which the country looked for inspiration and spiritual 
guidance when in 1917 it found itself at war. 

2. Strength of the American Church in Numbers and Resources 
Distnbution of This Strength Among the Denominations 
And first a word as to the externals of the Church— its strength 
m numbers and in resources, personal and financial. The last Cen- 
sus of the United States, that of 1916, puts the number of church 
organizations m this country at 227,487, and of church members at 
41,926,854.^ 194,759 Sunday schools were reported with a total 
membership of 19,935,890. These organizations were divided be- 
tween 206 denominations, owned 203,432 church buildings valued at 
$1,676,600,582, on which there was a debt of $164,864 899 and par 
sonages valued at $218,846,096. Their annual expenditures totalled 
$328,809,999, and their gifts to missions and philanthropy $62 050 
571. They employed 191,796 ministers who conducted services in 43 
different languages, and of whom the 63,543 who reported full 
salaries received on an average $1,078. These were divided by 
denominations as follows, reckoning those only which had more than 
50,000 members: 

Roman Catholics H721Slf; 

Members of the Eastern Orthodox churches*. '.'.'.'. '240840 

Methodists ^ifaTnl 

Baptists .... 7,166,451 

Lutherans ''.'^''.'.'.W :.'.', l^Am 

Presbyterians 2,467,416 

Disciples ?'o^^^2^ 

Ep-opaiians :;;v.;;v::::::;:::::::: ^^f 

Congregationalists 7m o^i 

Reformed .. ^^l'^^^ 

United Brethren .'.".V.V..* ' 3^ ' 

German Evangelical Synod .*.*.'.'.'.'*.* 339853 

he/e'^iivlatftrken"""'" ''''• ^"' '' ""■ ^^-^^-'f™-' which the figures 



66 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Churches of Christ 317,937 

Dunkers 133,626 

Adventists 114,915 

Christians 118,737 

Evangelical Association 120,756 

United Evangelical Church 89,774 

Unitarians 82,515 

Mennonites 79,363 

Universalists 58,566 

In addition there were 462,329 Latter Day Saints and 357,135 
Jews. The number of Christian Scientists is not reported in the 
Census.^ 

^ Figures in the Year Book of the Federal Council for 1921 show the follow- 
ing changes since the Census of 1916: church organizations, 233,999, with a 
membership of 46,242,130 (an increase of 6,512 and 4,315,276 respectively) ; 
199,154 Sunday schools with a membership of 23,944,438 (an increase of 4,395 
and 4,008,548 respectively); 199,154 ministers (an increase of 7,358). During 
the same period the population of the country increased from 102,017,312 to 
105,710,620, or 3,693,308. 

The figures for the denominations with over 50,000 communicants are given 
as follows: 

Roman Catholics 17,885,646 

Eastern Orthodox churches 411,054 

Methodists 7,918,557 

Baptists 7,835,250 

Lutherans 2,466,645 

Presbyterians 2,384,683 

Disciples 1,210,023 

Episcopalians 1,117,051 

Congregationalists 819,225 

Reformed 510,905 

United Brethren 383,329 

German Evangelical Synod 274,860 

Churches of Christ 317,937 

Dunkers 134,110 

Adventists 136,233 

Christians 97,084 

Evangelical Association 160,000 

United Evangelical Church 90,096 

Unitarians 103,936 

Mennonites 91,282 

Universalists 58,566 

Latter Day Saints 587,918 

Jews (estimated) 400,000 

It must be remembered, however, that these figures are only provisional 
and cannot claim the accuracy of those of the United States Census. Thus 
the source of the figures for the Roman Catholic Church is the Catholic Direc- 
tory which in 1917 reported over 17,000,000 Roman Catholics for the year 1916, 
in place of the 15,721,815 given by the United States Census. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 67 

In determining the significance of these figures we must not over- 
look the fact that the basis of estimation varies in different 
bodies. Thus the Roman Catholic Church reckons as full church 
members all baptized children, the Baptists those only who can 
speak for themselves and have received believers' baptism. An or- 
dmary Roman Catholic congregation is a section of the Roman 
Catholic population as well as of the Roman Catholic Church mem- 
bership. An ordinary Baptist congregation, on the other hand, is 
made up both of persons whose number is included in its reported 
membership and of other persons not reported in the Census of Re- 
ligious Bodies, to whom appeal is being made to make the public 
profession which will lead to their inclusion in the organized church 
The number of persons under direct Baptist influence must be 
computed. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church those num- 
bers are reported. 

A similar contrast exists in the case of other churches like the 
Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Lutheran, and the Episcopal 
which, like the Roman Catholic Church, practise infant baptism' 
but unlike it do not include baptized children in their list of re- 
ported church members. It is clear, therefore, that in order to get 
a correct impression of the relative strength of the Roman Catholic 
and Protestant element in the American Church, it is necessary to 
take account of that proportion of the reported church member- 
ship which consists of children under thirteen. This proportion in 
the case of the Roman Catholics is 24.96 per cent. In the average 
Protestant Church it is slightly over 5 per cent. Even this does 
not fully represent the situation, for while in the case of the Roman 
Catholics a large number of baptized persons are included in the 
rolls who have only a nominal connection with the church, in the 
case of the larger Protestant communions many regularly' attend 
church services and contribute to the support of the church who 
never become church members at all. Taking these facts into 
account. Dr. Laidlaw estimates the Roman Catholic element in 
the United States in December, 1916, at 15.5 per cent, while the 
Protestant element ranged between 69.2 and 76.1 per cent, accordino; 
to the basis of calculation.^ 

As our plan does not permit any detailed consideration of 

fromL^hZT''''\^^'^''^^'> ''^T^^ Catholicism and Protestantism." 
irom Which the figures here cited are taken. Cf. esp. p. 5. 



68 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, it is sufficient to 
say that the same influences which have moulded the work of Amer- 
ican Protestantism have been active in the history of the American 
Catholic Church. New problems meet the church in America and 
new emphases appear in its teaching and organization. The old 
orders reappear in this country— Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, 
etc., and in addition new orders like the Paulist Fathers, which 
have for their purpose the interpretation of Catholic Christianity 
to Protestant America. Much important information about the 
church and its operations may be gained from the Catholic Ency- 
clopedia.^ But it is as true of American Catholicism as it is of 
Protestantism that it still lacks its sympathetic interpreter. 

Two further facts need brief mention in order to complete the 
picture of the composition of the American Church: the number 
and strength of the Negro congregations and of the foreign-speak- 
ing churches. 

The Census of 1916 reports 39,655 Negro organizations with a 
total membership of 4,602,805. Of these 51,688 are in Roman 
Catholic and 4,551,117 in Protestant congregations. They own 
church property worth $86,809,970, with a debt of $7,938,095, and 
parsonages worth $6,231,459. They expended for the support of 
religion $18,529,827, and had 37,426 Sunday schools with 2,153,843 
pupils.^ 

Churches maintaining services either in whole or in part in for- 
eign languages reported a membership of 11,329,487, distributed 
roughly as follows: ^ 

Germans 3,923,000 

Italians 1,773,000 

Poles 1,613,000 

French 1,190,000 

Spanish, including Mexicans 606,000 

Norwegians 344,000 

Slavic 307,000 

Lithuanian 214,000 

Bohemians 210,000 

Slovaks 181,000 

Hungarians 146,000 

Greeks 132,000 



^ 16 vols., New York, 1907, sq. 

""'Religious Bodies," 1916. Part I, Summary and General Tables, pp. 
132-138. 

'"Religious Bodies," 1916, Part I, p. 85. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 69 

Slovenian 122,000 

Yiddish 116 000 

Portuguese 112,000 

It is interesting to note that of these approximately 7,677,171 
were in Roman Catholic and 249,840 in Eastern Catholic congrega- 
tions, showing to how large an extent the Catholic Church remains 
a church of people of foreign antecedents and speech. 

One striking feature which comes out in the religious statistics 
is the small proportion of Jews who are reported in the synagogues 
as compared with the total population. In this country only 357,- 
135 Jews^ were reported in 1916 as having religious connection 
out of a total Jewish population estimated at 2,349,754. In New 
York City, out of 975,000 Jews, only 93,819 were reported as in the 
synagogues.2 In estimating the significance of these figures it 
should, however, be remembered that they include only heads of 
families. To form a proper basis of comparison therefore they 
should be multiplied by four. 

In contrast to the weakness of organized religion among the 
Jews is the rapid growth of the two new religions to which America 
has given birth in our time, Mormonism and Christian Science. 
As to the exact size and progress of the latter we have no official 
statistics, but in the former case the figures show 462,329 church 
members, although in this case it should be noted that 30 per cent, 
are under thirteen, the largest proportion of any reporting church.^ 
Such figures as these present a bewildering picture. So seen, 
the religious history of America would seem to be a confused med- 
ley of rival and conflicting sects. Closer inspection, however, tends 
to bring order out of chaos. Some of the divisions which the Census 
records are due to differences of language; others are the survival 
on this side of the water of Old World controversies which have 
largely lost their meaning; still others are due to individual or 
transient causes. Of the 25,000,000 Protestant church members, 
the greater number are found in seven or eight large groups; 



1 ((- 



'Religious Bodies," 1916, Part I, p. 30. The number, according to the 
Year Book of the Federal Council, had risen in 1921 to 400,000. During the 
same period, according to the figures given in the World Almanac, the num- 
ber of Jews in the country increased nearly a million, and those in New 
York City from 975,000 to 1,500,000. 

^Laidlaw, "Roman Catholicism and Protestantism," p. 13, 
^ According to the figures given in the Federal Council Year Book for 1921 
the number of Mormons had risen to 587,918. Cf. Laidlaw, op. cit., p. 3. ' . 



70 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

namely, the Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Dis- 
ciples, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, and Reformed. Two 
millions are distributed among a dozen smaller denominations, 
of whom the German Evangelical Synod, the United Brethren, and 
the Churches of Christ together account for nearly half. The 
problem, therefore, of uniting American Protestantism resolves it- 
self largely into the attitude of about a dozen large groups to one 
another. 

In most of the larger denominations there is free interchange 
both of ministers and of members. The type of service which pre- 
vails is in the main similar and the consciousness of membership 
in the one Church of Christ common to all. Of the larger bodies 
the Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Southern Baptists draw the line 
of demarcation between their own members and those of other 
churches most strictly, but for the others the differences which sep- 
arate them are rather differences of history and of administration 
than of profound religious or ecclesiastical conviction. 

There are, however, two exceptions to this statement which 
should be noted: one, the difference caused by the race question; 
the other, that due to doctrinal differences. In three of the larger 
Protestant denominations — the Methodists, the Baptists, and, to a 
less extent, the Presbyterians — the most serious line of cleavage, 
namely that between the Northern and Southern churches,^ is due 
in part to the different attitude taken to the Negro. In the 
Northern church the Negro minister is admitted to full parity with 
his white fellow-minister in presbytery, council, or conference, 
whereas the South has organized the Negroes into separate self- 
governing churches.^ While there are other questions at issue be- 

^ The terms Northern and Southern are used for convenience, though they 
are not strictly accurate. The Methodist Episcopal Church (frequently 
though inaccurately known as the Northern Church) has in the South and on 
the border between 700,000 and 800,000 members. The Presbyterian Church 
in the U. S. A. (the Northern Church) also has many members in the 
South. Nor are the Baptists divided by any strict geographical line. 

^It should in fairness be said that while the law of the Northern churches 
permits colored pastors to sit with white pastors in the same conference or 
presbytery, and individuals do so, the great bulk of the Negro membership is 
distributed in Negro conferences or presbyteries. In General Conference and 
General Assembly, however, white and Negro delegates sit side by side. 
This could not, under present conditions, occur in the Southern denominations. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 71 

tween the Northern and Southern churches, this difference of at- 
titude toward the Negro to-day presents one of the most serious 
difficulties in the way of their reunion. 

To theological difference is due the existence as separate 
churches of the Unitarians and the Universalists, the former owing 
their origin to differences of view as to the person of Christ and His 
relation to the Godhead; the latter to differences of view as to 
the extent of God's saving purpose for mankind. The conserva- 
tive character of the American Church as a whole, as well as the 
difficulty of founding a church on doctrinal considerations alone, 
appears in the relatively small membership of these two churches 
whose influence has been rather indirect through their contribu- 
tion to liberal thought and sentiment than through any large ac- 
cessions from the older churches. 

But though doctrinal differences alone have not been the de- 
termining factor in bringing about denominational divisions,^ they 
have had, and still have, an important influence in shaping the 
policy of the different communions. In each of the larger bodies 
we find a party which advocates a liberal interpretation of the 
standards of the church and a party which holds to strict con- 
struction, and the fear of each of these parties of what the other 
might do, if it gained the upper hand, is, as we shall see later,^ an 
important factor in determining its attitude to the various pro- 
posals for co-operation and union which we shall take up in the 
present discussion. Thus in the debate which is now going on as 
to reunion between Northern and Southern Presbyterians the more 
liberal views of the former church have frequently been cited by 
conservative members of the latter body as an argument against 
organic union; and the hospitality of many Northern Baptists to 
modern views of the Bible and their less rigid view of baptism are 
viewed with suspicion by their Southern brethren. Similar theo- 
logical differences are found in other bodies, a conspicuous illus- 
tration being the difference between the Protestant and Catholic 
parties in the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

' Ej^ i^ the case of the division of the Presbyterian Church into Old and 
JNew bchools m 1837, when theological controversy was so acute, practical as 
well as doctrinal considerations were operative 

'Cf. p. 256. 



72 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Such in brief is the present condition of American Protestantism 
as seen by the statistician.^ What are the outstanding character- 
istics of the group of churches whose numbers and denominational 
distribution we have passed in review? 

3. Outstanding Characteristics of the American Church — Its Pro- 

vincialism and Individualism — Influence of the 

Denominational Spirit 

Taking the American Church as a whole, the first characteristic 
that strikes us as worthy of note is its provincialism. By this I 
mean the tendency of each local congregation or group of congre- 
gations to think of itself as a self-sufficient whole. That which 
has been true of the political life of the nation, and which has 
rendered any large national policies so difficult of attainment, has 
been equally, perhaps even more, true of its religion. Not only has 
there been little contact with European religious problems, but 
there has been little effort to grasp the problems of the country 
as a whole. The place in which a man has lived and voted, or 
at least the state to which his primary political loyalty has been 
due, has been the centre of his religious interest and responsibility. 

This limitation has been accentuated by the differences in the 
character of the religious life of different sections of the country. 
The Episcopal church in Virginia, the Congregationalism of Puritan 
New England, the Presbyterianism of Pennsylvania and the Middle 
West, the Lutheranism of Missouri and the Northwest, the Baptist 
churches of the South, all have their marked characteristics, sep- 
arating them from their fellow-Christians of other communions and 

^ In the above sketch no attempt has been made to take account of relative 
gain or loss. Reference to previous Census reports shows that relatively to the 
population of the country the churches have held their own and on the whole 
have gained ground. Where there were 21,699,432 members in the churches 
in 1890, there were in 1916 nearly 42,000,000, whereas during the same period 
the population of the country as a whole increased from 62,622,250 to 102,- 
017,312. Since 1916 the increase has been even more rapid. While the Roman 
Catholic Church remains first in numerical increase, in the proportion of its 
increase relatively to other churches it ranks 36. From 1906 to 1916, the period 
covered by government Census returns, the Catholics had a growth of 10.6 
per cent, while the various Protestant bodies grew from 17.4 to 28.2 per cent. 
It is interesting to note that in ten years the English-speaking Catholic 
churches grew 1.5 per cent., while the foreign-speaking churches grew 22.1 per 
cent. Cf. Laidlaw, quoted in the Christian Century, January 19, 1922. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 73 

making it natural for them to conceive of Christianity as a whole 
after their own type. 

This provincialism has been in part corrected, in part accen- 
tuated, by the denominationalism of American Christianity. From 
one point of view the denomination has been an enlarging and lib- 
erating influence. It has extended its work beyond the local com- 
munity, and in the case of the larger communions, has taken in 
the country as a whole. It has extended farther than this, for, as 
we shall see, it has been the point of contact between the local com- 
munity and the missionary enterprise of the Church in the widest 
sense — home and foreign. But on the other hand, it has had its 
limiting influence as well. It has accentuated the divisive features 
in American Christianity. It has applied an absolute standard to 
local peculiarities and made it easy for a man to identify his own 
particular type of Christianity with that of the Church universal. 

This feature of denominational Christianity has been often criti- 
cized. But it is possible to over-emphasize it and to minimize the 
good effects of the denominational system. The picture of Amer- 
ican Christianity as a strife of warring sects is a serious misrepre- 
sentation. The chief danger of denominationalism is not that it 
leads us to attack our fellow-Christians, but that it makes us con- 
tent to ignore them. Denominationalism may identify its own en- 
terprises with those of ecumenical Christianity and lead its ad- 
herents to regard other forms of Christian belief or worship as 
negligible or unimportant; but at least it reminds them of a world 
larger than Smithtown and Jonesville. It is the means through 
which the members of the local congregations realize their member- 
ship in the Church universal. 

The ecumenical character of denominationalism appears most 
clearly in Methodism. One of the youngest of the larger de- 
nominations, the genius of John Wesley has stamped upon this new 
and flourishing branch of the Church a missionary zeal and or- 
ganizing power which has made it within the compass of a single 
century the strongest of all the Protestant denominations. In no 
other church is denominational unity more systematically culti- 
vated. In no other is the world-wide mission of the denomination 
more largely conceived or more vigorously prosecuted. It was en- 
tirely natural that the Interchurch World Movement should have 
been conceived and most largely promoted by Methodists. 



74 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

A third characteristic of the American Church, closely associated 
with the preceding, is its individualism. By this is meant the extent 
to which religion is conceived in terms of the relation between the 
individual soul and God. This was a direct inheritance of American 
Christianity from the Puritanism to which it owed its origin. It is 
true that Puritanism had another side. The stricter Protestants 
not only believed that it was the duty of the Church to set the 
individual soul right with God, but that the soul so redeemed should 
organize society so as to conform to the divine ideal of conduct. 
Calvin in Geneva and Knox in Scotland were statesmen as well as 
preachers, and Cromwell incarnated for a few brief years the Puri- 
tan ideal of the theocratic state. But with the early separation of 
church and state in this country the theocratic side of Puritanism 
fell into the background and its individualism was accentuated. 
The great revival movements which from time to time swept over 
the country had for their primary purpose the conversion of sin- 
ners, and Methodism, the most powerful as well as the most highly 
organized of all the American denominations, shared and indeed ac- 
centuated the evangelistic passion. 

The individualistic type of religion, common to all the larger 
denominations in spite of their differences, is but the reflex in re- 
ligion of the democratic spirit of the American people. The sense 
of individual responsibility for one's own life, and a willingness 
to accept the consequences of one's own acts in success or failure, 
has been from the first a characteristic of life in America. Each 
man is expected to carve out his own life as he can. It is not for 
his neighbor to dictate what he shall do. 

This individualism, while it has accentuated the sense of re- 
sponsibility in religion, has reinforced the tendency to narrowness 
which we have already noted. Taking American Christianity as a 
whole we find no large and comprehensive plan for the country. 
Each denomination works out its own programme for itself and, in 
spite of certain promising movements toward unity to which we 
shall have occasion presently to refer, has hitherto maintained its 
own autonomy and independence. And what is true of the de- 
nomination is still more true of the local church. We shall study 
in a later chapter the ways in which the local church is beginning 
to minister to the needs of the community in which it is located. 
The tall white spire rising to heaven is not only a reminder of re- 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 75 

ligion; in many an American village it is an invitation to fellow- 
ship. The church is social club as well as place of worship, and 
the kitchen and the library are features of its architecture for which 
one looks in vain in European countries. But this social conscious- 
ness is only beginning to reach beyond the local community. It has 
not yet made itself the dominating factor in the life of the Church 
as a whole. 

In this respect, the experience of the Protestant bodies presents 
a marked contrast to that of the Roman Catholic Church in 
America. Always the church of a minority, the Roman Catholic 
Church has visualized its task as a national one and planned ac- 
cordingly. In the great cities it has chosen the strategic sites for 
its churches years before they were needed, has laid out its pro- 
gramme on a parish basis, where Protestanism was content to let 
chance or liking decide, and financed its enterprises by an every 
member canvass long before Protestantism discovered the envelope 
system. As a result it occupies a place and wields an influence 
in the country out of all proportion to its numbers, as Protestants 
learned to their surprise when the war came. 

The lack of a nation-wide constructive policy is the more sur- 
prising because of the genius of the American for organization. In 
no other country has the study of machinery been carried so far. In 
no other have large views of what can be accomplished by organized 
effort been more systematically cultivated. But in America this 
genius has been put at the service of private and individual inter- 
ests — a particular business, a private philanthropy. Each group 
has tried to promote its own interests as if they were the only thing 
to be considered. There has been little sense of responsibility to 
the nation as a whole, still less to mankind of which the nation is 
a part. This characteristic phenomenon of great organized power 
serving interests which are partial, if not in themselves narrow, re- 
appears in American Christianity.^ 

* Interesting illustrations of this power of organization as appliedito religion 
appear in the two new religions which owe their origin to America — Mor- 
monism and Christian Science. In each case reasons can be given for the 
growth of the religion which are independent of the intelligence and organiz- 
ing skill of the promoters, but in each case it is equally true that this skill 
has powerfully reinforced the other motives to which the religions appeal. 
This is the more noteworthy in the case of Christian Science, which -as a mys- 
tical religion would not seem fertile soil for the growth of a strong denomina- 



76 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

In this connection we may refer to another feature of American 
Protestantism which has frequently subjected it to criticism; 
namely, the fact that in contrast to Roman Catholicism it has be- 
come to a large extent the Church of the well-to-do. So far as this 
is true — and taking the country at large it is far less true than the 
critics would have us believe — it is the natural result of the prin- 
ciple of freedom which we have seen to be inherent in American 
Protestantism. With the rejection of the state church, the support 
of religion has been thrown entirely upon private initiative, and 
under the circumstances it was natural, indeed all but inevitable, 
that those who had the largest means should come to have a dis- 
proportionate share of the control. One would not minimize the 
evil, but it would be no less a mistake to magnify it. What we see 
to-day is not the final stage of American Protestantism, but only a 
phase through which, in common with the democracy of which it 
is a part, it is passing. The remedy is not in the abandonment 
of the principle of the free support of religion, but in its extension 
until the basis of control is shifted. The Roman Catholic Church 
raises large sums from people of moderate means because it insists 
upon systematic giving. The same thing can be done in the Protes- 
tant churches. Indeed, as we shall see in later chapters, it is al- 
ready being done on a nation-wide scale. With this change in the 
method of the support of religion we are witnessing a correspond- 
ing broadening of the basis of control. Where no other remedy is 
possible, there remains always for those who find existing organi- 
zations too narrow the way of the first Protestants. Let them form 
new organizations of their own to express their deepest convic- 
tions. These in time, like the older denominations, when their 
educative work has been done, will find their place in the larger 
unity of a reformed and truly democratic Protestantism. 

4. The Relation of the American Church to the State — Similarities 
and Differences in Organization and Spirit 

It will help us to understand the characteristics of which we 
have been speaking if we remind ourselves of the attitude of the 

tional consciousness, but which in the course of its history has developed a 
central organization of a highly autocratic character, thus giving us a new 
illustration of the truth of which the history of Roman Catholicism is so 
signal an example, that mysticism and autocracy are congenial companions. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 77 

American people to the other great institution which claims their 
allegiance — ^the state. The statement has sometimes been made 
that our present national government was modelled after that 
of the Presbyterian Church, but there seems no ground for such an 
assertion. Nevertheless, there are similarities in the" attitude of 
the American people toward government both in state and church 
which make a study of their relationships illuminating. 

Like the founders of the republic, those who were responsible 
for shaping the polity of our American churches had a lively fear 
of a strong central government. Theocratic government passed 
with the aristocratic state of which it was a part, and in its place 
came the representative system with its elaborate arrangement of 
checks and balances. As the national government came into ex- 
istence through the federation of pre-existing state governments, 
each jealous of its independence and prerogatives, so the nation- 
wide ecclesiastical units we call denominations were built up 
gradually through the combination of various smaller groups — the 
presbytery, the classis, the conference, the diocese, as the case 
may be, as these in turn had been built up through the union of 
individual local congregations. The history in each case is a dif- 
ferent one, varying with the genius of the denomination in question. 
Of these differences we shall have presently to speak. But common 
to all the churches, even such highly organized bodies as the Pres- 
byterians and the Episcopalians, was the distrust of a strong cen- 
tral authority, the determination to keep for the local body, whether 
it were parish or presbytery, its inherent right of self-government 
and self-determination. 

This explains a feature of American Protestantism to which 
we have already referred and to which we shall have occasion to 
recur more than once again; namely, its inability to carry through 
any strong and consistent national policy. This is due in no small 
degree to the fact that the different churches of which it is made 
up have no permanent executives through whom such a policy can 
be put into effect. The supreme judicatory in each case is a body 
meeting at considerable intervals, consisting of representatives 
elected by the subordinate judicatories whose personnel changes 
from year to year and which in any case exercise strictly limited 
powers. This is true not simply of bodies like the Congrega- 
tionalists and Baptists, where final authority rests with the local 



78 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

congregation, but of more highly organized churches like the Pres- 
byterians and Methodists. Even of the Episcopalians it is true that 
unlike their sister churches of other lands they have no archbishop 
in whom the unity of the Church is symbolized and to whom the 
permanent conduct of its affairs is committed. 

A second feature of American Church polity, in which its demo- 
cratic character is apparent, is the large share given to laymen 
in church government. Unlike many of the churches of other lands, 
the American churches almost without exception give laymen an 
equal share with clergymen in the management of their affairs. 
Laymen sit in their highest judicatories. They are represented 
on their permanent committees. They share with the clergy 
the responsibility not simply for the financial affairs of the 
church, but for the administration of its missionary policy. In- 
deed, it may be said with confidence that there has never been 
a group of churches since Christianity began in whose manage- 
ment laymen had so responsible a part. And while it is true, as 
we have already seen,^ that women have only recently been admitted 
to any large share in the management of the Church, it is yet sig- 
nificant that long before they won political suffrage, they enjoyed 
the right, as members of local congregations, to vote on all parish 
affairs, including so important a matter as the choice of a minister. 
It would seem, therefore, only to be a matter of time when this 
privilege will be extended to include membership in the larger 
representative bodies, as indeed has already been done in the 
Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist denominations. 

But if the American Church is like the state in its lack of cen- 
tralized power and its broad basis of representation, it differs from 
it in the absence of any officially recognized party system. This 
does not mean, of course, that there are no parties in the American 
Church in the sense of groups of men who voluntarily associate 
themselves for the purpose of promoting the policies in which they 
believe. Wherever there is government there are parties. It be- 
longs to human nature that men should differ in their views of 
what ought to be done and that they should organize in support of 
the policy in which they believe. What differentiates the party 
system as we have it in America from the party system elsewhere 
is that the existing parties are recognized by law and surrounded 

* Cf . pp. 29, 30. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 79 

with oflacial sanctions which make them an essential part of our sys- 
tem of government. There is nothing corresponding to this in the 
polity of the American churches. Whatever differences there may 
be remain unofficial and private. The conservative of yesterday 
may become the liberal of to-day and vice versa. When men of 
good will in the Church wish to unite in some constructive policy 
and are able to convince the majority of their fellow-Christians 
that their views ought to prevail, they are not hampered by the 
obstacles which the existing party system puts in the way of similar 
action in the political sphere. 

The best illustration of the Church's ability to unite men of 
different views in common action is furnished by the missionary 
and educational agencies. In their Boards of Home and Foreign 
Missions, as well as in their College Boards and Sunday-school 
agencies, the churches have created powerful administrative bodies 
which raise and spend large sums of money for purposes which re- 
quire continuity of administration. These powers are cheerfully 
granted because the purpose for which the boards exist commands 
the confidence of all parties in the Church and so makes them the 
most effective of all possible organs of unity. 

In general the relation between church and state in this country 
is one of mutual co-operation and respect. The principle of separa- 
tion between state and church is generally accepted and its wisdom 
all but universally approved. The principle has its drawbacks, to 
be sure, as in the matter of the teaching of religion in the schools, 
but these are generally regarded as a cheap price to pay for the ad- 
vantages which it secures, and any attempt to divert public funds 
to religious purposes (as, for example, for the support of parochial 
schools) would meet with instant disapproval. 

There is, however, one conspicuous exception to the principle 
of the absolute separation of church and state, and that is the 
provision in the laws of the various states which exempts the 
property of religious and charitable bodies from taxation. This is in 
effect a method of subsidizing religion, but it operates in so general 
a way as to involve no discrimination between different forms of 
religious belief and to maintain the central interest which underlies 
the separation of church and state, namely, the equality of all re- 
ligions before the law. 

A second point of contact between the Church and the state is 



80 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

found in the laws which regulate the administration of trust funds. 
From the point of view of the state, the Church is a corporation like 
other corporations, holding its funds under a charter derived from 
the state.^ In the administration of these funds the state is disposed 
to allow the Church every latitude, particularly in matters affecting 
the interpretation of the religious purposes for which the funds were 
given. Only in case of dispute between the church members them- 
selves is the state forced to act as arbiter in ecclesiastical matters, 
as, for example, in the case of a controversy between a local 
congregation and the denomination to which it belongs as to the use 
to be made of certain property, or between the majority and the 
minority of a denomination in the case of a proposed merger with 
another body as to the right to control the denominational funds. 
In all such cases, the initiative comes from the Church, not the 
state. So far as it is possible to do so, the secular authorities are 
disposed to grant the representatives of the churches the most com- 
plete autonomy. 

But while jealously guarding the principle of the separation 
of state and church, the American people are equally insistent upon 
the fact that their country is a Christian nation. This appears in 
the practice of opening Congress with prayer, in the President's 
annual Thanksgiving proclamation, and in the provision by Con- 
gress for chaplains in the army and navy. The Presidents of the 
United States have been almost without exception members of some 
recognized Christian church and have shown their respect for re- 
ligion by regular church attendance. The churches have always 
been free to address the chief magistrate in matters which seemed 
to them of spiritual significance, in the confidence that their right 
to do so would be recognized and their address received in a sym- 
pathetic spirit. A recent example was an open letter apropos of 
disarmament addressed to President Harding, through the editorial 
columns of a leading Protestant religious journal ^ under the cap- 
tion, "To President Harding, Christian." In this letter the writer 
appeals to the President to approach the problems of the disarma- 
ment conference not simply in the spirit of the statesman and the 
politician, but as one who voices the hopes and aspiration of 

^On the law governing religious corporations, cf. Frank White and God- 
frey Goldmark, "Non-Stock Corporations," New York, 1913, pp. 301-422. 
'^Christian Century, October 20, 1921. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 81 

millions of his fellow-Christians. Most Americans, whatever they 
might think of the substance of the letter, would agree that in 
makmg such an appeal the writer was entirely within his rights. 

6. Significant Denominational Types 
Thus far we have had in view American Christianity as a whole 
and have tried to point out its outstanding characteristics. But 
withm this territory there are significant differences. These dif- 
ferences correspond roughly to the larger denominational groups 
with which our survey has made us familiar. It will add vividness, 
to our sketch and help us to approach our later study more in- 
telligently if we remind ourselves briefly what the more important 
of these groups are like. 

At one pole of our American Protestantism stands that large 
group of churches which make the local congregation the consti- 
tutive element in the Church. Of these the Congregationalists may 
be taken as typical. The Congregationalists inherited the Puritan 
tradition m its independent form and gave spiritual tone to New 
England during the formative period; and while in the course of 
time Congregationalism has softened the rigidity of its earlier Cal- 
vmism and has become hospitable to new ideas in religion it still 
retams a belief in the autonomy of the local congregation, and a 
suspicion of all forms of prelacy. Among the large denominations, 
the Congregationalists have been one of the slowest to yield to the 
centralizing tendency of our day, and their Mission Boards still 
remain m theory voluntary societies maintained by the contribu- 
tions of individual congregations and Christians. 

In their emphasis upon the right of the individual congrega- 
tion to complete mdependence and autonomy, the Baptists are at 
one with the Congregationalists, but they carry their individualism 
still larther. Congregationalists generally share with the older 
churches the belief that the family is a spiritual unit and they 
therefore retain the practice of infant baptism. In their reaction 
agamst sacramentarianism the Baptists reject this practice They 
insist on believers' baptism and hold a theory of the Church which 
makes mdividual faith a prerequisite to baptism. It was their 
protest which won freedom from the restrictions of the early the- 
ocracy, and to this day they reject in theory all man-made creeds 
and carry out more consistently than any other body of their fellow- 



S2 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Christians, with the possible exception of the Disciples, the original 
Protestant principle that the Bible and the Bible alone is the rule 
of faith and practice. Yet on the basis of free co-operation they 
have been able to build up powerful missionary agencies and in their 
recently established Board of Promotion the Northern Baptists have 
created a central council through which they are able to function 
effectively for common ends and to co-operate with other churches.^ 
With over 7,800,000 communicants. North and South, the Bap- 
tists share with the Methodists the numerical leadership among 
American Protestants, and no one who desires to understand the 
genius of American religious life can afford to pass them by. 

It is a natural consequence of the democratic philosophy of the 
Congregationalists and Baptists that they should be more hos- 
pitable than other Christian bodies to the ministry of women. In 
the Baptist Church there are already a number of ordained women 
preachers, and the same is true, though not to so large an extent, 
of the Congregational Church. 

Most extreme of all Protestant Christians in their opposition 
to forms and ceremonies and in their interest in a purely spiritual 
religion are the Friends. Relatively few in numbers, they have 
remained from the first a leaven in our American Christianity whose 
value to the whole can scarcely be over-estimated. It is not too 
much to say that in proportion to their numbers they have done 
more to foster vital religion and make faith bear fruit in works 
than any other equal number of American Christians. 

Of the Unitarians we have already spoken. They represent the 
left wing of American Protestantism, the group which has carried 
freedom of thought to greater length than any other body of Amer- 
ican Christians and made it the constitutive principle of their 
church. 

* It should be stated that this tendency to centralization is strongly resisted 
by the Southern Baptists. These sturdy Christians who constitute the extreme 
right wing of Protestantism are unwilling to do anything which would seem 
to limit the freedom of the local congregation. Carrying distrust of central- 
ized authority farther than any other body of their fellow-Christians, they hold 
aloof even from such innocent forms of co-operation as the Federal Council. 
Yet with this extreme insistence on the autonomy of the local congregation 
goes also, curiously enough, a doctrine of close communion which makes them, 
in spite of their extreme individualism, the most exclusive body in Protestant- 
ism, with the possible exception of the high-church party in the Episcopal 
Church. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 83 

At the other pole of American Christianity stand the Episco- 
palians. Beginning their career in Virginia as the Congregational- 
ists did in New England, they have spread, like them, to all parts 
of the country and to-day possess a nation-wide organization with 
eighty-seven dioceses ^ and over a million communicants. 

In the Protestant Episcopal Church the sacramentarian and 
mystical type of religion finds expression in American Christianity. 
More conservative than the other branches of the Church in its at- 
tachment to antiquity, the Episcopal Church values the Catholic 
tradition which it has inherited and cherishes the ties which bind 
it to the older churches. Especially close has been the relation of 
the American Episcopal Church to the Church of England from 
which it is directly descended— a fact evidenced by the presence of 
American bishops in the great Councils of the Anglican Communion. 
Tolerant in its theology to widely divergent views, it attaches great 
importance to unity of organization, and more than any other 
single communion, except perhaps the Disciples, feels the present 
divided condition of the Church as a scandal. Among the distinc- 
tive features of its organization, apart from the Episcopate itself, 
is its consistent adoption of the parish system, its retention of the 
liturgy in public worship, and the central place given to the sacra- 
ments. More than any other American church the Episcopal lays 
stress upon beauty and dignity of worship, and side by side with 
its parish churches it is building stately cathedrals in the great 
centres of population which accommodate large numbers of wor- 
shippers and minister to the community as a whole. In spite of the 
limitations to which reference has already been made, the Episco- 
pate provides this church with a leadership which makes for con- 
tinuity of policy and gives it an influence in the religious life of 
America out of all proportion to its numbers. 

Midway between the Congregationalists and the Episcopalians 
stand the Presbyterians— like the former in their independence and 
insistence upon local autonomy; like the latter in their closely ar- 
ticulated organization and their inheritance of a tradition of order 
and dignity in worship. Largely recruited from English and 
Scotch-Irish sources, they have organized their Presbyteries from 
New York to California, and through their membership in the Al- 
liance of Presbyterian and Reformed churches retain close affilia- 
* According to the Census of 1916. 



84 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

tion with the Presbyterians of other lands. Like the Episcopalians, 
Presbyterians have been earnest in their advocacy of Christian 
union and have taken a prominent part in various plans for co- 
operation both in the national and in the local field. Accepting 
as their standard the Westminster Confession, with a highly de- 
veloped system of church law and a strong sense of ecclesiastical 
tradition, they have not made their own orthodoxy a reason for 
denying the Christianity of other churches or refusing to co-operate 
with them in any practicable plan for the establishment of the 
Kingdom of God. 

In the course of their history, Presbyterians have frequently 
divided, sometimes on doctrinal grounds, at others for reasons of 
policy or temperament. But to-day the several branches of Pres- 
byterians are co-operating practically in various ways, and the 
movement for a reunited Presbyterianism cannot much longer be 
delayed.^ The two sister churches of Presbyterian polity, the 
Dutch Reformed and the German Reformed, each with its own dis- 
tinctive genius and honorable history, will no doubt be included 
in the movement for reunion, since they belong to the same gen- 
eral polity and inherit similar traditions. 

A distinct type in American Christianity is represented by the 
Lutherans. One of the larger Protestant bodies (they number 
more than two million communicants), they have until recently 
been one of the most isolated and independent. As the Episco- 
palians represent the conservative tendency of the Reformed move- 
ment in the sphere of polity and worship, so the Lutherans represent 
it in the field of doctrine. Like the Episcopalians in emphasizing 
the value of the sacrament, to them the creed, or as they would 
say, the confession, is the formative principle of the church, and 
its acceptance is consistent with wide variations in forms of govern- 
ment and administration. By the creed they understand the type 
of doctrine represented in the Augsburg Confession and the older 
confessional literature which interprets it, and upon the perpetua- 
tion of this type of doctrine and the securing of its intelligent ac- 
ceptance they lay great stress. The devout Lutheran believes 
that it is the Christian's supreme privilege and duty to bear wit- 
ness to Christ as the all-sufficient Saviour; and he can allow no 
word or act of his to obscure this testimony, or to detract from the 
' Yet cf. p. 256. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 85 

glory of Christ as the only Lord and Saviour. The Lutheran holds 
that the Church's proper function is to preach the Gospel and ad- 
minister the sacraments, and that it must not trespass upon the 
domain of the state. It must provide for the instruction of its 
people, and especially the children, in the faith and duties of the 
Christian religion, and must commend its Gospel to the world by 
works of ministering love. Many of the Lutherans maintain their 
own parochial schools. 

In carrying out this ideal the Lutherans have not always found 
it possible to agree among themselves on every point of faith and 
doctrine. They have differed also in regard to the safeguards 
against the possible corruption or obscuration of their testimony. 
Such differences account in part for the divisions among Luth- 
erans; for to them unity in the faith is of greater importance than 
union in external organization. Their divisions are due also to 
factors of language and nationality. On the other hand, tendencies 
toward union among themselves have been at work for many 
years, and aided by the strong impulse given by the war they have 
resulted in several large unions and in important co-operative re- 
lationship between bodies not organically one. 

No account of the genius of American Protestantism would be 
complete which did not include an appreciation of the Methodists. 
One of the latest of the larger denominations to arise, they have 
proved one of the most vigorous and effective. In Methodism the 
genius for organization, which is a characteristic feature of American 
life, finds a fitting vehicle of expression. Beginning modestly in 
Wesley's mission to the United States and the labors of the pioneers 
who succeeded him, the Methodists have built up a nation-wide 
organization which includes nearly eight million communicants.^ 
Among the American churches they alone have solved the problem 
of the vacant pulpit and made ministerial unemployment a thing 
of the past. Fervent in the character of their religious life, laying 
great stress on personal experience and the practice of holiness, they 
have been one of the most powerful factors in evangelizing the 
needy parts of the country and in carrying missions to the other 
nations as well. On the whole they are conservative in their 
theology, yet they have proved open to modern ideas. In ideal 
at least they believe that a man's education does not end with 
' Cf. p. 66. 



86 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

his entry into the ministry and have made provision for this con- 
tinued education in their system of annual conferences. With un- 
failing appreciation of the need of personal conversion and conse- 
cration, they have been hospitable to the social aspects of the Gos- 
pel, and in their genius for organization was found the inspiration 
of that great enterprise of co-operative Christianity which we know 
as the Interchurch World Movement. Indeed, so effective is their 
own work that they are sometimes tempted to forget that there 
are other churches as well and to under-estimate the contribution 
which they might render to the co-operative movement if they 
would throw themselves into it as whole-heartedly as in theory 
they confess they ought to do. 

One more group of American Protestants needs brief mention 
and that is the Disciples. Special interest attaches to them be- 
cause of the fact that they arose as a protest against denomina- 
tionalism and even to-day many of them refuse to be called mem- 
bers of a denomination. They believe that there can be only one 
Church and to that end would have all Christians return to the 
primitive standards and ideals of the New Testament. Like the 
Baptists they reject all man-made creeds. Like the Baptists they 
practise baptism by immersion. Like the Baptists in turn they 
have found that the rejection of a written creed does not free them 
from theological differences. Within their membership we find the 
same two parties, the liberals and the conservatives, which show 
themselves in every human organization and which move toward 
the goal of unity which both alike have at heart by the two roads 
that conservatives and liberals have taken in every generation, the 
former by asking others to agree with them, the latter by trying 
to find some common ground on which all good men and true can 
unite. To-day the Disciples have become for all practical pur- 
poses a denomination among denominations, retaining as a re- 
minder of their original motive only this: that among their various 
Mission Boards they have one whose sole function it is to promote 
the unity of the Church. 

Such, then, are some of the more outstanding types of Amer- 
ican Protestantism. Each of these in turn has its own divisions 
and sub-divisions, in some cases more, in others less, numerous and 
important. Each has its parties emphasizing different aspects of 
the common faith, and trying to shape denominational policy ac- 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 87 

cording to its own conviction. And about these larger groups clus- 
ter a number of smaller bodies ranging in size from many thousands 
and even hundreds of thousands to a few hundreds in membership, 
expressing aspects of Christian faith and life and preserving the 
memory of episodes in Christian history into which, however fas- 
cinating and rewarding, our space forbids us to enter.^ Looking at 
them one by one and observing in each in varying degree the limi- 
tations which we have seen to be characteristic of American Chris- 
tianity as a whole, we might well question whether any large de- 
gree of unity is possible between bodies so organized and who inherit 
such differing traditions. 

6. Factors Making for a Larger and More Catholic 

Christianity 

But this is only one side of the picture— true so far as it goes, 
but unless qualified, misleading. Side by side with these divisive 
influences other forces have been at work in American Christianity, 
preparing for a larger future. These we must now consider to 
make our picture complete. 

We are not thinking here of the permanent capital of historic 
Christianity, the resources laid up in the Christian religion and al- 
ways available, but of certain special factors which have gone into 
the making of our American Christianity, which have helped it to 
adjust itself to present needs more quickly and more effectively 
than it could otherwise have done. Of these the most important 
for our purpose are the following: the foreign-missionary move- 
ment, the new home missions, the social-service movement, the 
movement for church unity, the Christian Associations and other 
voluntary societies of Protestantism. 

First in importance we must put the foreign-missionary move- 

^ Of the denominations with more than 50,000 members, the United Breth- 
ren, with 367,000, are Methodist in polity, as is true also of the Evangelical 
Association (120,000) and the United Evangelicals (89,000) who together have 
more than 200,000 members. The German Evangelical Synod (339,000) is 
Presbyterian in polity and carries on the traditions of the Union Church in 
Germany. The Churches of Christ with 317,000 members belong to the same 
family as the Disciples, and the same is true of the Christian Church with 
118,000 members. The Bunkers with 133,000 are Presbyterian in polity. The 
Adventists with 114,000 members and the Mennonites with 79,000 are Congre- 
gational. The same is true of the Unitarians and the Universalists, 



88 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

ment. This movement, never stronger or more influential than at 
the time the war broke out, had, as we have seen, given to Amer- 
ican Christianity certain great gifts which have proved of incal- 
culable importance. It had raised up a group of men and women 
who had acquired the habit of world vision. It had set for mul- 
titudes of earnest Christians a standard of consecration that made 
the giving of one's all seem a matter of course. It had enlarged 
the range of the Church's ministry until it took in the whole of life. 
Religion, as modern missions conceive it, is a ministry to the whole 
man — ^man as an individual to be sure, but as a member of society 
as well, citizen not of his own nation only but of the world. The 
true prophets of the League of Nations, the men who have done 
most to prepare the way for the ideal of a new world order, are men 
like George Washburn and Timothy Richards and George William 
Knox who, in their own persons, have crossed the barrier that di- 
vides race from race and made Christianity an effective organ of 
international friendship. Above all, the foreign-missionary move- 
ment has carried into our American Christianity a sense of un- 
limited possibilities. It has broken the shell of tradition and 
habit and made initiative a Christian virtue. 

Foreign missions enlarge the significance of denominationalism 
by giving it a wider outlook and a more catholic purpose. We 
have seen how the denomination expands the horizon of the indi- 
vidual Christian in the local community by making him a member 
of a body which is national in its reach. But the denominations 
are much more than this. They are themselves missionary agencies 
committed to a world-wide programme, and through their litera- 
ture and propaganda they are continually reminding their members 
that no conception of the Christian church is adequate which is 
less inclusive than humanity. 

The foreign-missionary movement not only widens the horizon 
of the American churches; it gives them a new conception of their 
responsibility at home. When one is giving for schools and hos- 
pitals in China, it cannot seem out of place that the Church in 
America should be occupied with questions regarding education and 
health, and the discovery of the missionaries that Baptists and 
Methodists and Presbyterians can work together without loss of 
efficiency in foreign lands is bound to exercise a reflex influence, 
upon the movement for unity at home. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 89 

The effect of this enlarging conception of the task of the home 
Church appears in an increasing emphasis upon the social aspects 
of the Church's missionary activity. The leaders of the new home 
missions insist no less strongly than their predecessors upon the 
necessity of individual conversion. But they associate education 
and social service with evangelism as its necessary consequence. 
Every phase of the individual's activity, we now see, must be 
Christianized, ' and for this we must develop a nation-wide pro- 
gramme that includes all the varied groups in the country with 
their differing needs— the immigrants clustering in our great cities, 
the workers in factories whose hours of labor cut them off from 
the ordinary ministries of the Church, the multitudes of people in 
small villages and through the open country, who miss the inspira- 
tion and fellowship enjoyed by those who live in larger communities, 
and not least, the great city churches, many of which have been 
limiting their responsibility to their own parish instead of think- 
ing of themselves as part of the one great field of national Chris- 
tianity. 

This new conception of home missions has found expression in 
the Social Ideals of the Churches,^ a statement adopted at the meet- 
mg of the Federal Council in 1908,^ which sums up in concise form 
the mam pomts in a number of similar pronouncements by indi- 
vidual denominations. That statement attempts to formulate in 
a series of brief propositions the Christian attitude toward current 
industrial questions. It deals with such matters as wages and 
hours of labor, the protection of women and children in industry 
the right of the workman to proper sanitary conditions of labor' 
and to proper representation in matters in dispute between himself 
and his employer. Originally put forth by a single denomination 
It has gamed sigmficance from its acceptance by the Federal 
Council, a body including more than thirty of the leading Protestant 
churches; and the fact that it has recently been attacked by cer- 
tam powerful business interests would seem to indicate that it ex- 
presses a movement within the Church which is sufficiently pro- 
nounced to deserve recognition.^ 

Qt Industry, June 15, 1920. Cf. also p. ^4. 



90 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

It is true that this movement, so far as it affects the Church, is 
still young. It is an island, let us say rather an archipelago, in the 
sea of individualistic Christianity, and yet the archipelago exists. 
To trace its origin would require us to recall the history of the 
Social Settlement, to follow the rise of the social-service movement 
in the churches, to tell of the work of social prophets like Wash- 
ington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch, and of living leaders 
whose accomplishment it is too early to appraise. It would bring 
before us the series of experiments through which church leaders 
have been trying to bridge the gap between the Church and or- 
ganized labor, such as the institution of the fraternal delegate, or 
the establishment of the open forum. As a result of these and 
other influences the attention of the churches is being directed to 
their social responsibilities, and a new social conscience is being 
developed. 

A fourth factor to be considered is the movement toward Chris- 
tian unity .1 The interest of the Church in unity appears not 
only in the more ambitious attempts to secure the organic union 
of Christendom, but in a wide variety of co-operative movements 
which bring Christians of different denominations together for prac- 
tical purposes. While advocates of the former method have been 
content to focus their attention on the longer future and have dis- 
couraged efforts at early action as premature, those who have 
been engaged in the more immediate tasks, feeling the urgency 
of the situation, have preached co-operation as a present duty to 
constantly increasing audiences. Acting through the Federal 
Council, they have organized commissions on such subjects as evan- 
gelism, social service, international justice and goodwill and Chris- 
tian education. They have fostered the creation of local fed- 
erations in cities and states. This movement has been paralleled 
or preceded by similar movements on the part of the responsible 
administrative agencies of the larger Christian communions which 
have come together in such effective bodies as the Foreign Missions 
Conference, the Home Missions Council, the Council of Church 
Boards, and the International Sunday School Council. Through 
these agencies relationships had already been established between 
the different denominations which had created a common senti- 
'Cf. Chapters X and XIII. 



WHERE THE WAR FOUND THE CHURCH 91 

ment and understanding and made it possible for them to work 
together when the war came. 

More prominent in the public eye, but needing special mention 
because representing a different principle, are the great voluntary 
societies of Protestantism, of which the most important are the 
Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Chris- 
tian Association. The story of the rise and growth and service 
of these powerful religious agencies is one of the most interesting 
and instructive of all the chapters of American church history, and 
some day will receive the detailed and discriminating attention 
which it deserves. In these bodies the Church possesses indispensa- 
ble auxiliaries with the power to function quickly and effectively 
in crises such as war. It is not strange that the Associations should 
have taken the leadership when the World War came and should 
have filled the place in the public eye to which their great services 
justly entitled them. 

One more asset needs to be mentioned, and that is the demo- 
cratic spirit itself. We have seen the weakness of this spirit, its 
tendency to isolation and narrowness. We must not overlook its 
strength. It expresses the sense of individual responsibility which 
is so characteristic a feature of our American life— the willingness 
of the individual to assume his share and bear his part and work 
out in forms that seem congenial to himself the type of life he 
wishes to live. It has its unlovely features, for there are few in- 
dividuals who have the training and the culture to order their 
own lives to the best advantage. But culture may be acquired if 
there is individual initiative and responsibility, whereas where these 
are lacking true democracy is impossible. The democratic spirit 
is a spirit of life and energy. It is active, responsible, unafraid, 
and this spirit, present in the republic from the first, has reflected 
itself in the character of the American Church. 

Such was the Church upon which the war broke, to test its 
powers and to reveal it to itself. 



CHAPTER VI 

WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 

1. Dijjering Estimates oj the War Work of the Church 

In a frequently quoted article in the Atlantic Monthly an 
American clergyman writes thus of the temper of the Church dur- 
ing the months that preceded our entry into the World War: 
'Thoughtful men and women are asking what became of the spir- 
itual leadership of America during those thirty-two months when 
Europe and parts of Asia were passing through Gehenna. What 
prelate or bishop or ecclesiastical dignitary essayed the work of 
spiritual interpretation? What convocation or conference or as- 
sembly spoke so convincingly that the national conscience must 
perforce listen? What book from a clerical study gave the sancti- 
ties of humanity and the sanctions of law the foremost place in 
current thought? What voice from altar or pulpit liberated a pas- 
sion of righteous indignation and set the continent aflame with 
holy wrath?"! 

The sin of which Dr. Odell calls his brother clergymen to 
repent is that they did not together and at once arouse the nation 
to the duty of immediate participation in the World War. Other 
critics of the Church have condemned it for exactly the opposite 
reason. In their view the clergy were blameworthy not because 
they were slow in throwing themselves into the war, but because 
they had not made the war impossible; or, if that could not be, 
did not refuse to take any part in it.^ 

These criticisms reflect the divided sentiment in the nation 
when the war broke out. To many Americans— no doubt the 
large majority— the war presented itself as a simple issue of right 
and wrong. The peace of the world had been suddenly interrupted 

'Joseph H. Odell, "Peter Sat by the Fire Warming Himself," Atlantic 
Monthly, February, 1918, pp. 145 sq. 

'Cf. the thoughtful editorial in the Churchman, "War is Sin." November 
12, 1921. 

92 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 93 

by a marauding nation, and it was the plain duty of all law- 
abiding peoples to band themselves together to put down the of- 
fender. For a considerable number of thoughtful persons, however, 
the matter was not so simple. To them war itself seemed the evil of 
evils, the inevitable outcome of an unchristian social order for 
which we were all alike— even if not all in equal degree— to blame. 
Germany might have applied the torch, but others had helped to 
lay the fagots. In their thought, the one hope for the future of 
mankind was to find some nation which would have nothing to do 
with war in any form. 

We see to-day the limitations of both points of view. We 
recognize that when the war came it was too late to stay the de- 
structive forces it had set in motion, and that all that could be done 
was to try to mitigate the evil, so far as might be possible. But 
we see also that to multitudes who had been living little and selfish 
lives, the war was a reminder of a larger world, a call to self- 
forgetful service. Who can doubt that to thousands of our 
young men the call to service was in a true sense the call of 
religion? 

Yet we know now how much more complicated were the moral 
issues than we at first supposed. One need not minimize Ger- 
many's guilt in the war or question the righteousness of the cause 
for which the Allies fought in order to show in how many ways 
on both sides evil was intermingled with good. The intolerance 
that cloaked itself as patriotism; the willingness— when two alterna- 
tives were possible— to believe evil rather than good; the systematic 
suppression and perversion of the truth when it bore against our 
purposes instead of for them; the loss of faith in the capacity for 
good in multitudes of men; the forgetfulness of the fact that in the 
eyes of God all alike are sinners, offenders against His law and in 
need of His forgiveness: ^ all this we can perceive more clearly 
now than five years ago when action jostled thought aside and rea- 
son often abdicated in favor of passion. It will not seem strange 
if in such a situation the Church was slow to express a final judg- 
ment, and required time to find its way to the truth. There was no 
agreement even as to the facts; how much less as to their signifi- 
cance. Where the wisest individuals differ it is only natural that 

* Cf . W. Adams Brown, 'The Place of Repentance in a Nation at War " 
North American Student, May, 1918. 



94 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

there should be no unified policy in the institution to which they 
belong. Before censuring the churches for what they failed to do, 
it is only fair to give them credit for what they did do. 

2. Success of the Church in Caring for the Soldiers and Keeping 

up the Morale of the Nation 

Three plain duties lay before the Church when the war broke 
out. It was its duty, first, to minister to the spiritual needs of 
its own sons and keep alive their faith in God and the higher life; 
it was its duty, secondly, to reinforce the morale of the nation and 
to inspire men and women to sacrifice by reminding them of the 
ideals for which the war was fought; it was its duty, finally, in 
time of strain and misunderstanding, to keep alive the international 
spirit, the spirit of brotherhood and goodwill, and in time of war 
to prepare the world for the healing tasks of peace. By its success 
or failure in these respects, its claim to have rendered faithful serv- 
ice must be judged. 

As to the first two there can be no question. Both in their 
ministry to the troops who were fighting and to the people who 
stayed at home, the churches performed a service of incalculable 
value— a service that will be rated most highly by those who knew 

it best.^ 

At the outset, the Church was fortunate in having as auxiliaries 
the two Christian Associations, undenominational agencies defi- 
nitely Christian in character, of large resources, wide experience, 
and exceptional initiative. Both had already had training in work 
in other countries. Both had worked with our army on the Mexican 
border, and in addition the Young Men's Christian Association had 
had three years' experience in caring for the prisoners of war both 
of our Allies and of the countries against which we were presently 
to fight. In the Young Men's Christian Association, therefore, the 
Christian forces of America possessed the machinery through which 
they could act quickly and effectively in the service of our army, 
called into existence almost over-night. What was done through 

^A convenient summary of the war work of the churches is given in 
"War-Time Agencies of the Churches," New York, 1919. A fuller account may 
be found m the publications of the General War-Time Commission, the Chris- 
tian Associations, and the various denominational War Commissions. Cf. 
also Williams, "American Catholics in the War," New York, 1921. 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 95 

this agency both here and across the sea is known in every home 
in America.! It is as needless as it would be impossible to add 
anything to the well-deserved tribute recently publicly paid to 
the Young Men's Christian Association by an authoritative wit- 
ness, General Pershing.^ 

But the Young Men's Christian Association was only one of a 
number of agencies through which the Church discharged its min- 
istry to the army. What the Young Men's Christian Association 
. did for the men, the Young Women's Christian Association did for 
the women. For this was a war, we must never forget, in which 
women did their part side by side with men in army and navy 
alike. The Young Women's Christian Association looked after the 
women relatives of our soldiers and sailors, cared for women serv- 
ing in various capacities with our troops, for trained nurses, signal- 
corps operators, secretaries, laundresses, etc., and for the industrial 
army of women in our own country and in France who served 
behind the lines.^ 

Less prominently before the public eye, but of increasing im- 
portance with every passing month, was the work of the army 
and navy chaplains.* The camp pastors or voluntary chaplains, 
furnished by the War Commissions of the different churches, ren- 
dered a useful service during the earlier months of the war, when 
the regular chaplains were still few.^ The churches in the neighbor- 
hood of the camps opened their rooms for recreation and rest and 
offered the recruits from distant sections of the country a place 

*Cf. Summary of the World War Work of the American Y. M C A 
prmted for private distribution, New York, 1920; Katharine Mavo "That 
Damn Y'," 1920. ' 

' "In the field of education, athletics, and recreation after the armistice the 
Young Men's Christian Association took the lead, without any sort of ques- 
tion, and as a matter of fact about nine-tenths of the welfare work that was 
carried on in the A. E. F. was carried on under the direction and guidance of 
the Young Men's Christian Association."— "General Pershing and the Young 
Men's Christian Association," p. 7. 

' Cf. Report of the National War Work Council of the Young Women's 
Christian Associations of America, New York, 1919. 

^ No complete account of the work of the chaplains has yet been printed. 
Extracts from the report of the Chief of Chaplains are given in the Report' 
of the Secretary of War, Washington, 1921. 

' For an account of their work cf . the reports of the various War Commis- 
sions, fuller reference to which may be found in the bibliography included in 
"War-Time Agencies of the Churches." 



96 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

where they could feel at home.^ In other national organizations^ 
such as the Red Cross, the Library Association, the War Camp 
Community Service, etc., worked representatives of the churches, 
helping to create the environment that would sustain the men's 
morale and uphold their ideals. Probably since the world began, 
there has never been an army upon whose morale such solicitous 
care was expended. 

Scarcely less notable than the contribution of the Church tO' 
the welfare of the army was its service in sustaining the morale 
of the nation. To all the various forms of national service which 
contributed so largely to the winning of the war — ^the work of the 
Red Cross, Food Control, Liberty Loans, and the like — ^the churches, 
were generous contributors. When Mr. Hoover wished to reach 
every home in America with his appeal for co-operative action, he 
found an invaluable ally in the churches, for the churches have their 
representatives in every community and can touch, at will, every 
section of the people. 

The service of the churches was the more creditable because of 
the modest and self-effacing way in which it was rendered. In all. 
the organizations which have been named, ministers worked as vol- 
unteers. Especially significant was the work done by ministers: 
as camp directors and Y. M. C. A. secretaries. Cheerfully ac- 
cepting the limitations which the government regulations put uponi 
their freedom,^ they took the positions offered to them by the As- 
sociation and made up in the spirit of their service what it lacked 
in formal and official character. Indeed, one of the chief reasons 
why the churches received so little credit for the work done in the 
war was that so much of their work was done in co-operation with 
others. They were content to work where work seemed needed, 

* No complete record exists of the work which was done by these churches. 
Taken together it would make an impressive story. The Catholic War Council 
has undertaken to compile a complete record of what was done in this way by 
the different Roman Catholic parishes. Unfortunately the limitation of funds 
at the disposal of the General War-Time Commission made impossible any 
such record of the work of the Protestant churches. 

""E.g., in such matters as administering the sacraments. According to the 
theory of the government the work that was done by the Y. M. C. A. was 
primarily welfare work, and while no objection was made to the secretaries 
carrying on religious services, they were supposed to do so as laymen, and 
everything of a denominational or indeed of a formal ecclesiastical character 
was strictly excluded. 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 97 

supplying the personnel through which other organizations worked 
as well as rendering the distinctive service which experience showed 
that they alone could give. 

3. Failure of the Church Adequately to Uphold the Ideal of Inter- 
national Brotherhood and the Reasons for It 

When we turn to the third of the great tasks of the Church in 
the war— that of keeping alive the spirit of international brother- 
hood—the record is less clear. There were individuals who were 
able in singular degree to combine loyalty to their country's cause 
with the larger outlook. But for many ministers the identification 
of the national cause with that of humanity was so complete that 
they found it hard to pass discriminating judgments. The steady 
stream of atrocity stories, the suppression of all evidences of better 
feeling on the part of any section of the German people, the dis- 
heartening effects of the pronunciamento of the German intellec- 
tuals, the honest and sincere revulsion of feeling against a nation the 
action of whose leaders had plunged mankind into these unspeak- 
able horrors— all worked to make righteous anger seem a Christian 
duty. The tone adopted by some pacificists in regard to the issues 
at stake did not tend to make the cause of internationalism any 
more attractive. The fact remains that in the heat of the struggle 
the judgment of many a minister did not conspicuously rise above 
that of the average citizen. The universal note, so signally sounded 
by Israel's prophets in times of similar crisis, was less in evidence 
than we could have desired. 

Yet, thank God, the note of brotherhood was never entirely 
absent. When the Church spoke officially, its utterances were not 
lackmg m Christian character. Of many illustrations that might 
be given, the declaration of principles adopted by the Federal 
Council at the time war broke out may be taken as a represen- 
tative example.^ 

This declaration reads as follows: 

After long patience, and with a solemn sense of responsibility, the govern- 
ment of the United States has been forced to recognize that a state of war 
exists between this country and Germany, and the President has called upon 

133'^^' "^^^ C^^^ches of Christ in Time of War," New York, 1917, pp. 129- 



98 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

all the people for their loyal support and their whole-hearted allegiance. As 
American citizens, members of Christian churches gathered in Federal Council, 
we are here to pledge both support and allegiance in unstinted measure. 

We are Christians as well as citizens. Upon us, therefore, rests a double 
responsibility. We owe it to our country to maintain intact and to transmit 
unimpaired to our descendants our heritage of freedom and democracy. Above 
and beyond this, we must be loyal to our divine Lord, who gave His life that 
the world might be redeemed, and whose loving purpose embraces every man 
and every nation. 

As citizens of a peace-loving nation, we abhor war. We have long striven 
to secure the judicial settlement of all international disputes. But since, in 
spite of every effort, war has come, we are grateful that the ends to which 
we are committed are such as we can approve. To vindicate the principles of 
righteousness and the inviolability of faith as between nation and nation; to 
safeguard the right of all the peoples, great and small alike, to live their life in 
freedom and peace ; to resist and overcome the forces that would prevent the 
union of the nations in a commonwealth of free peoples conscious of unity in 
the pursuit of ideal ends— these are aims for which every one of us may lay 
down our all, even life itself. 

We enter the war without haste or passion, not for private or national gain, 
with no hatred or bitterness against those with whom we contend. 

No man can foresee the issue of the struggle. It will call for all the 
strength and heroism of which the nation is capable. What now is the mission 
of the Church in this hour of crisis and danger? It is to bring all that is done 
or planned in the nation's name to the test of the mind of Christ. 

That mind upon one point we do not all interpret alike. With sincere 
conviction some of us believe that it is forbidden the disciples of Christ to 
engage in war under any circumstances. Most of us believe that the love 
of all men which Christ enjoins demands that we defend with all the power 
given us the sacred rights of humanity. But we are all at one in loyalty to 
our country, and in steadfast and whole-hearted devotion to her service. 
As members of the Church of Christ, the hour lays upon us special duties: 
To purge our own hearts clean of arrogance and of selfishness; 
To steady and inspire the nation; 
To keep ever before the eyes of ourselves and of our allies the ends for ^ 

which we fight; 

To hold our own nation true to its professed aims of justice, liberty, and 

brotherhood ; 

To testify to our fellow-Christians in every land, most of all to those from 
whom for the time we are estranged, our consciousness of unbroken unity in 
Christ ; 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 99 

To unite in the fellowship of service multitudes who love their enemies 
and are ready to join with them in rebuilding the waste places as soon as 
peace shall come; 

To be diligent in works of relief and mercy, not forgetting those ministries 
to the spirit to which as Christians we are especially committed; 

To keep alive the spirit of prayer, that in these times of strain and sorrow 
men may be sustained by the consciousness of the presence and power of God; 

To hearten those who go to the front, and to comfort their loved ones 
at home; 

To care for the welfare of our young men in the army and navy, that they 
may be fortified in character and made strong to resist temptation; 

To be vigilant against every attempt to arouse the spirit of vengeance and 
unjust suspicion toward those of foreign birth or sympathies; 

To protect the rights of conscience against every attempt to invade them; 

To maintain our Christian institutions and activities unimpaired, the ob- 
servance of the Lord's Day and the study of tLe Holy Scriptures, that the soul 
of our nation may be nourished and renewed through the worship and service 
of Almighty God; 

To guard the gains of education, and of social progress and economic free- 
dom, won at so great a cost, and to make full use of the occasion to set them 
still further forward, even by and through the war; 

To keep the open mind and the forward look, that the lessons learned in 
war may not be forgotten when comes that just and sacred peace for which 
we pray; 

Above all, to call men everywhere to new obedience to the will of our 
Father God, who in Christ has given Himself in supreme self-sacrifice for the 
redemption of the world, and who invites us to share with Him His ministry 
of reconciliation. 

To such service we would summon our fellow-Christians of every name. 
In this spirit we would dedicate ourselves and all that we have to the nation's 
cause. With this hope we would join hands with all men of goodwill of every 
land and race, to rebuild on this war-ridden and desolated earth the common- 
wealth of mankind, and to make of the kingdoms of the world the Kingdom 
of the Christ. 

This utterance gains significance from the circumstances under 
which it was put forth. It was not the expression of a small or 
uninfluential group, but of the most representative body of Amer- 
ican Christians which up to that time had ever assembled. It was 
prepared with great care by a large and carefully selected com- 
mittee which subjected every line to repeated and rigorous criti- 



100 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

cism. It expressed to an extent which is not often true of such 
documents the mature conviction of the men and women best able 
to speak for the Church as a whole.^ 

^Four and a half years after the utterance which we have just quoted, a 
delegation of the same Council met again in Washington. The war had come 
and gone, and in November of 1921 representatives of the allied powers had 
come to the national capital at President Harding's invitation to take part in 
a conference on disarmament. On Friday, the eleventh, the third anniversary 
of Armistice Day, it was proposed to bury in the National Cemetery at 
Arlington, with all the honors of a grateful nation, an unknown and unidenti- 
fied soldier, symbol and representative of the nameless dead who had given 
their lives for our country. On the Thursday preceding, the body lay in 
state in the rotunda of the Capitol and delegations representing different m- 
terests were permitted to enter at appointed times to bring their tributes to 
the honored dead. The first of these delegations represented the Federal 
Council of the Churches. In the early morning of a gray November day they 
gathered on the east steps of the Capitol, and just before eight o'clock struck, 
a moment or two before the doors were opened to the general public, were 
admitted to the rotunda where they placed their tribute, a white cross over 
the Stars and Stripes, in the place which had been prepared for it. After a 
brief prayer by Bishop McDowell, Chairman of the Washington Committee on 
Army and Navy Chaplains, in which he expressed the nation's gratitude to 
God for the valor of the men who had given their lives for its defence and 
invoked His blessing upon the homes from which they came, the Secretary of 
the General War-Time Commission, on behalf of the churches represented m 
the Federal Council, voiced their consciousness of the indissoluble bond 
which unites men of goodwill of every land and race, their hope that in work 
for the common weal those who were once enemies might find reconcihation 
and peace, and their unconquerable faith in the possibility of a warless world. 
A similar note is struck in an open letter sent out a few days earlier by the 
heads of twenty-four of the largest Protestant communions, acting m co-opera- 
tion with the Federal Council. It is addressed to all lovers of humanity, and 
voices the deep conviction of the churches in an impressive statement from 
which we take the following paragraphs: r t^- 

'The Conference is to deal with difficult and complex problems of politics 
and economics. But underlying them all are eternal moral principles of inter- 
national life We firmly believe that nations no less than individuals are sub- 
ject to God's immutable moral laws; that only through just dealing and uii- 
selfish service can people achieve true welfare, greatness and honor; that for 
nations as well as individuals, goodwill and mutual helpfulness are the true 
way of life. No considerations of political expediency or of selfish economic 
advantage can supersede these basic principles without bringing ultimate dis- 
aster and ruin in their train. , 

''More than all else, there is need for a new spirit in our international lite. 
Penitence there must be first of all, for our own past sm m thmkmg too 
much of our own rights and others' duties, too little of our own duties and 
others' rights. We must learn to think of our nation not as an end m itselt, 
but as a member of a family of nations under a common Father All un- 
neighborly attitudes toward other peoples, all prejudice against other races, 
must be put away. Our hearts must be open to the incoming of the divine 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 101 

4. What the War Taught the Church Concerning the Need of 

Effective Agencies of Unity 

So far we have been considering what the Church did for the 
nation. It remains to point out what was the reflex influence 
upon the Church. For one thing the war revealed to American 
Protestantism its essential unity. We have already seen how 
much the different denominations had in common, how far their 
past history and similar experiences had already welded them into 
a spiritual unity. But it remained for the war to bring this fact 
home to the consciousness of American Christians. Each denomina- 
tion met the crisis in its own way. Each reacted after its own 
fashion. Yet the reaction was surprisingly similar, and the dif- 
ferent agencies which the war called into existence found little dif- 
ficulty in working together.^ 

But while the war disclosed to the churches their essential unity, 
it showed them at the same time that they lacked agencies through 
which that unity could express itself effectively in action. Both in 
the larger matters which required interdenominational co-operation 
and in the narrower sphere where each denomination was able to act 
for itself, the needed machinery had to be improvised almost over- 
night. The Presbyterians, the Baptists, and the Congregationalists, 
whose annual meetings took place soon after the war broke out, 
created War Commissions to act for them in the crisis. Other de- 
nominations which met less frequently relied upon their existing 
agencies to tide them over the emergency. In the Episcopal Church, 
Bishop Lawrence was authorized by the presiding bishop, acting 

Spirit of life which alone can bring lasting peace to a world torn by war and 
staggering under the colossal burden of unnecessary armaments." 

^Cf. the testimony of Dr. Speer, in "Christian Unity: Its Principles and 
Possibilities," p. 26. 

"One of the most striking things about these denominational commissions 
was that their organization, point of view, and lines of action bore testimony 
to the underlying community of view and feeling in the American churches. 
No other institutions in America acted with more identity of mind and spirit. 
They set themselves to almost identical forms of service. There were many 
obvious differences, but they were as nothing in comparison with the signifi- 
cant evidence of the substantial unity of mind and temper characteristic of 
our churches. There were a few which believed that they were particularistic 
and different, but the interesting fact, almost the amusing fact, was the simi- 
larity of spirit and ideal. Actions spoke louder than words. Our American 
churches revealed their unity of character as a present reality." 



102 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

upon his own authority, to create a War Commission, relying 
upon the General Convention to ratify what had been done. The 
Southern Baptists made their Board of Home Missions the official 
agency of their war work, and the same was true at first of the 
Methodists. The Lutherans, the most divided of the Protestant 
groups, found in the war a welcome stimulus to denominational 
unity. ' Waiving all minor differences, they recognized their com- 
mon interest in effective war service and created a National Lu- 
theran Commission for Soldiers' and Sailors' Welfare, through which 
they could all function together.^ 

What was true in the field of the denomination as a whole was 
true also of the local community. Individual churches were exceed- 
ingly active. The War Camp Community Service was represented 
by earnest and enthusiastic agents. In a few communities the exist- 
ing federation of churches served as a unifying agency. But the 
churches as a whole had no single central organization through which 
they could promptly unify their local service in time of war. 

In spite of all obstacles, in one way or another, the needed ma- 
chinery was created and the churches addressed themselves to the 
tasks which lay at hand. There were chaplains to be provided for 
the government, and furnished with the equipment they needed; 
there were voluntary workers to be supplied in the camps. Liter- 
ature was needed for the soldiers. The churches near the camps 
must be strengthened and supplied with workers. In some places 
there were buildings to be erected or enlarged. For these funds 
were required and workers, and soon in all the larger denommations 
a stream of activity was under way.^ 

If it had only been one stream! But unfortunately there were 
more than thirty, each pouring its supplies of men, money, and 
literature into the camps. It was clear that such a situation could 
not continue indefinitely. The only access to the camps was through 
the government. But the government recognized three great bodies 
of religious people, and only three-the Protestants, the Roman 
Catholics, and the Jews. If, then, the Protestants were to work 
effectively, they must find some way of working together. 

^Cf ''War-Time Agencies of the Churches," pp. 53 sq. • ■• „ 

=^For information m detail cf. the reports of the various denominations 
in "War-Time Agencies of the Churches." 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 103 

5. The Organization and Work of the General War -Time Commis- 
sion — Principles Controlling the Work of the Commission 

This necessity led to the appointment of the General War-Time 
Commission of the Churches, the agency through which united 
Protestantism functioned during the war. The importance of this 
commission and its significance for the history of the co-operative 
movement in Protestantism justify a brief account of its origin and 
activities and of the principles on which it operated.^ 

The General War-Time Commission of the Churches was a 
body of one hundred persons chosen from the different churches and 
other religious agencies which were dealing in direct and responsible 
ways with the new problems which the war had raised. 

It had its inception at a meeting of the Federal Council held at 
Washington on May 8 and 9, 1917. At this meeting, called two 
weeks after the United States entered the war, there were in attend- 
ance, besides the delegates of the Federal Council, representatives 
of the Home Missions Council, the Foreign Missions Conference of 
North America, the Federation of Woman's Boards of Foreign Mis- 
sions of North America, the Council of Women for Home Mis- 
sions, the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian 
Associations, the National Board of the Young Women's Christian 
Associations, the American Bible Society, and the World Alliance 
for International Friendship through the Churches. In all, no 
less than thirty-five different bodies were represented. The ses- 
sions of the meeting were devoted to the preparation of a message 
to the churches and the discussion of methods by which the churches 
might meet the duties of the hour in the spirit of the message.^ 

The discussion at the meeting developed the fact that besides 
the temporary committees for which provision was made, some 
permanent representative national body would be needed to deal 
with the new problems created by the war, and the Administrative 

^ Cf . General War-Time Commission of the Churches : Its Origin and Its 
Purpose, September, 1917; Report of the General War-Time Commission of 
the Churches, December, 1917; The Record of a Year: Progress of the Work 
of the General War-Time Commission of the Churches, 1917-1918; Report of 
the General War-Time Commission of the Churches, December, 1918; The 
Service of the General War-Time Commission of the Churches, May, 1919. 

=»Cf. pp. 97-99. 



104 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Committee was authorized to bring this about. Acting under this 
authority, Dr. North, the President of the Council, invited a care- 
fully selected group of persons from the different religious bodies 
whose co-operation was essential to serve as members of a Com- 
mission of One Hundred. Dr. Robert E. Speer became chairman 
of the Commission, Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts, vice-chair- 
man, and the writer of the present volume, secretary. 

The Commission was organized on September 20, 1917, and ap- 
pointed an executive committee and other committees. After defin- 
ing its relation to the various religious agencies dealing with the war 
work of the churches, it expressed its own purposes as follows: ^ 

"1. To co-ordinate existing and proposed activities and to bring 
them into intelligent and sympathetic relationship so as to avoid all 
waste and friction and to promote efficiency. 

''2, To suggest to the proper agency or agencies any further 
work called for and not being done. 

''3. To provide for or perform such work as can best be done 
in a co-operative way. 

"4. To furnish means of common and united expression when 
such is desired; and finally, 

"5. To provide a body which would be prepared to deal in a 
spirit of co-operation with the new problems of reconstruction 
which may have to be faced after the war." 

Beginning modestly as a means of mutual acquaintanceship and 
a clearing-house of information, the influence of the Commission 
increased rapidly. Besides the executive committee, more than 
twenty-five other committees functioned at one time or another, 
and enlisted the service of a large number of voluntary workers." 
The expenses of the Commission, at first defrayed by voluntary con- 
tributions, were afterward underwritten by fourteen of the co-oper- 
ating bodies and when the war ended it had raised and expended 
more than $300,000, and was operating on a budget of $200,000 

a year. 

From the long list of activities mentioned by the Commission in 

^ "War-Time Agencies of the Churches," p. 154, 
' Ibid., pp. 158-176. 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 105 

its final report/ the following may be setected as worthy of special 
comment: 

In the first place the Commission served as a clearing-house of 
information. When it came into existence there was no single body 
which possessed accurate knowledge of what was being done by the 
religious forces of the country for the soldiers and sailors. The 
government did not possess it; the Associations did not possess it; 
the churches did not possess it. Each covered a part of the field and 
could tell what was being done by its own representatives, but there 
was no one whose business it was to cover the field as a whole. 
The Commission set itself at once to remedy this lack. It under- 
took a careful survey of the work being done in all of the military 
camps of the country and made its information accessible to all 
who needed it. 

More important than the sharing of information was the work 
of the Commission in bringing about personal contacts and rela- 

*The activities which were undertaken co-operatively by the churches 
through the Commission were summed up in its final report as follows : ''Secur- 
ing and furnishing information concerning needs and opportunities for religious 
work by means of a series of surveys; furnishing to the religious and secular 
press information concerning the co-operative work of the churches; promot- 
ing a better mutual understanding of plans and purposes and establishing 
more effective co-operation between the churches and the welfare agencies; 
securing the appointment of an adequate number of well-qualified army and 
navy chaplains and assuring them of the united support of the churches in 
the endeavor to have them provided with equipment, rank, and organization 
adequate to the effective performance of their duties; co-ordinating the activ- 
ities of the chaplains and other religious workers within the camps with the 
work of the several churches in the neighborhood; ascertaining the special 
needs and providing for the moral and religious welfare of Negro troops; pro- 
viding religious ministration for interned aliens; supplying printed matter 
needed for the use of chaplains and churches; reinforcing the efforts of the 
government to maintain a high moral standard in the army, both here and 
overseas, and to conserve for the future the results of the present interest in 
social hygiene; providing for the religious and moral welfare of the workers 
in communities engaged in the manufacture of munitions of war and in the 
shipbuilding industry; securing recruits for the work of the churches at home 
and abroad from men in military and naval service ; stimulating local churches 
to mobilize their resources for war-time tasks; bringing the denominations 
together for co-operative effort in raising funds for war work ; arranging for an 
exchange of ministerial service by the ministers of America and those of Great 
Britain and other Allied countries; encouraging the churches to welcome sol- 
diers and sailors upon their return to civilian life and co-operating with the 
government in helping to secure for them prompt employment ; deepening the 
spirit of penitence and intercession among the people." 



106 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

tionships. There were, in the first place, the different denomina- 
tional war commissions which needed to be made known to one 
another. Next there were relationships to be established between 
the Associations and the representatives of the churches. Thirdly, 
there were contacts to be brought about between the Protestant 
religious forces and the Roman Catholics and Jews. Finally, there 
were problems affecting the relationship of the religious forces as a 
whole to governmental agencies like the Commission on Training 
Camp Activities, which were charged with the moral and social 
welfare of the soldiers. With all these agencies the Commission 
was in touch. For each it tried to establish a natural point of 
contact with the others to the end that misunderstandings might 
be removed and more effective co-operation made possible. 

Much of the time of the Commission was given to increasing the 
number and promoting the efficiency of the chaplains. When the 
war broke out the status of the chaplain was exceedingly un- 
satisfactory. In theory the official representative of religion in 
the army and navy, in practice he held an anomalous and ill- 
defined position. His relation to the Church was of the loosest. 
On the funds so liberally contributed to equip the religious ac- 
tivities of the Young Men's Christian Association he could make 
no claim. From the government he received only his commission, 
and while all other branches of the army had been elevated in dig- 
nity and in rank to meet the new emergency of the war, his status 
remained still what it was at the time of the Spanish War. 

The Commission devoted much time and energy to changing this 
situation. Through its Washington committee it served as the 
agent of the government in securing for army and navy an ade- 
quate supply of efficient men for the chaplaincy. In its New 
York office it maintained a bureau which furnished equipment for 
the chaplains and supplied them information on matters of in- 
terest to them. It took an active part in the movement for the 
Chaplains' School, which did much to improve the training and in- 
crease the efficiency of the service. From the first it worked with 
Roman Catholics and Jews to secure adequate recognition of the 
chaplains from the government and provide them with the kind of 
organization which would enable them to discharge their work 
effectively. Such recognition was early secured for the chaplains 
of the American Expeditionary Force through General Pershing's 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 107 

organization of a chaplains' corps under Bishop Brent, but it 
proved exceedingly difficult to bring about similar action at home, 
and it was only after the war was over that the desired end was 
fully attained. 

Much of the time of the Commission was given to the work of 
the camp pastors or voluntary chaplains who were sent into 
the camps by the different denominational war commissions when 
the war broke out. The need for the services of these men was 
due partly to the slowness with which the regular chaplains 
were appointed, partly to the limitations put upon the religious 
activities of the Association secretaries during the early days of 
the war.^ Their presence in large numbers raised many difficult 
questions of adjustment which taxed the skill and patience of 
all concerned. Conferences were held in different centres at- 
tended by representative camp pastors of different denominations, 
and principles of co-operation worked out which did much to re- 
move the causes of friction and promote harmony and good feeling. 

The Commission proved particularly useful in the case of the 
smaller denominational bodies whose limited numbers and re- 
sources made it impossible for them to create effective agencies 
of their own. These found in the Commission a natural outlet for 
their energy and responded liberally to its appeal for money and 
men. 

Of the special pieces of work undertaken by the Commission on 
behalf of the churches, the following deserve a word of further 
mention: first, the work done by the Commission in interpreting 
the needs of the Negro troops to the responsible authorities ; ^ sec- 
ondly, its success in bringing about a united approach of the 
churches to the munition workers employed in the large plants 
operated by the government; and finally, its work in securing from 
the army authorities for candidates for the ministry the privilege of 
continuing their professional studies under army auspices during 
the period between the signing of the armistice and their muster- 
ing out of the service. 

In the office of the Secretary of War at Washington, there 
gathered for conference one day early in the war a group of 
seventeen men. They had been brought together at the invitation 



2 



Cf. p. 96. 

Cf. "War-Time Agencies of the Churches," pp. 167, 168. 



108 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of the War-Time Commission to talk over with the representatives 
of the government the needs of the Negro troops. They came 
both from the North and from the South. Half were white and 
half were colored. The spokesman of the committee was Dr. 
Ashby Jones, the son of Robert E. Lee's old chaplain. In that 
impressive historic setting, with Grant and Sherman and Sheridan 
looking down from their places on the wall, this son of the Con- 
federacy, addressing a general of the United States Army, also 
born south of Mason and Dixon's line, spoke on behalf of colored 
sddiers fighting side by side with white men in a cause which 
was now the common cause of all Americans — the defence of lib- 
erty under law.' 

The service of the Commission to the munition workers was 
rendered through the Joint Committee on War Production Com- 
munities.^ This was an interdenominational committee including 
representatives of the Home Mission Boards and of the Associations, 
both men and women. Through this committee one hundred and 
fifteen different communities were surveyed and thirty others vis- 
ited, and the information gained was put at the disposal of the 
interested parties. A plan of common action was adopted as a re- 
sult of which the different bodies represented co-operated in estab- 
lishing Liberty churches in centres where denominational work 
was impossible and in securing the support of these churches by the 
co-operating denominations under a plan mutually agreed upon. 
In other communities where it was possible to work through de- 
nominational agencies, the "committee succeeded in bringing about 
effective co-operation between the bodies represented. In these 
plans the two Associations heartily co-operated. 

The work for prospective theological students was carried on 
through the Committee on Recruiting and Training for the Work 
of the Church at Home and Abroad, an interdenominational com- 
mittee including well-known educators like Presidents J. Ross Ste- 
venson and William Douglas Mackenzie, as well as representatives 
of the Boards of Education of the churches and of the Young Men's 
Christian Association. Through this committee a united front 
was presented to the army authorities and privileges gained for 
Protestant theological students which could not have been obtained 
in any other way. Under the arrangement made possible by this 

'Cf. "War-Time Agencies of the Churches," pp. 193-199. 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 109 

committee more than one hundred students of different denomina- 
tions carried on their studies in theology in selected universities 
in England and Scotland for a number of months, and but for 
an unfortunate delay in the time of the announcement of the plan 
this number would have been largely increased. 

Thus serving as a clearing-house of information, a co-ordinating 
agency, and, when desired, a means of joint administration, the 
General War-Time Commission enabled the churches to face their 
new problends and responsibilities together. In the war work of 
the churches it is not too much to say that unity was not only 
worked for but to a very considerable degree achieved. 

This unity came to clearest expression in the Interchurch 
Emergency Campaign — a campaign carried on by fourteen of the 
larger denominations to secure the funds needed for their common 
war work. In this campaign the needs of the General War-Time 
Commission were presented side by side with the needs of the 
various denominational war commissions, and provision was made 
for the former in the budgets of the latter. In the course of the 
campaign, impressive meetings were held in the interests of Chris- 
tian unity in a number of different cities, the most notable being 
that held in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at the invitation 
of Bishop Greer.^ 

This gratifying result was possible because of the scrupulous 
care with which the Commission observed the limitations of its 
authority. Including members of widely different bodies, repre- 
senting different and often conflicting ideals of religious duty, it 
was careful not to go further than its constituent bodies would 
approve. The executive committee met every two weeks during 
the war, and its members, all of them responsible officers of im- 
portant organizations, came to know and to trust one another. 
Many a difficulty, which at first sight seemed insuperable, yielded 
to persistent attack, and unities were revealed which surprised 
those who discovered them. 

A second reason which accounted for the success of the Com- 
mission was the fact that though unofficial in character, it was 
composed of men who were themselves officials. The men who 

^At this meeting, which was addressed by representatives of the govern- 
ment and of different denominations, the building was packed to the doors and 
many hundreds could not gain admission. 



110 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

served on its executive committee were not only persons who com- 
manded the confidence of the religious denominations to which 
they belonged, but who because of their positions as secretaries 
of the denominational war commissions were able to carry their 
bodies with them in any course of action they recommended. 
This accounts for the generous contributions made to the funds 
of the Commission by the co-operating bodies, contributions which, 
coming as they did from the denominational treasuries, relieved 
the Commission after the first few months of the necessity of mak- 
ing any appeal to individuals and made its work in the fullest 
sense representative of the Church as a whole. 

As a visible symbol of the spirit of the Commission we may 
take the chapel at Camp Upton. Midway between the administra- 
tion building of the Young Men's Christian Association and the 
headquarters of the Knights of Columbus, a visitor to this camp 
might have seen an attractive building which bore the title, ''Church 
Headquarters." It had a chapel of dignity and beauty, where un- 
der conditions that ministered to reverence the more sacred and 
more intimate services of religion could be conducted. It had 
oflaces for pastoral conference, where chaplains, regular or vol- 
untary, met men for private interviews on matters of personal 
religion. It had residence rooms for visiting clergymen, and above 
all a conference room, where from week to week chaplains and 
other religious workers met to take counsel for the spiritual in- 
terests of the camp as a whole. The building was erected and 
paid for by seven different denominations^ acting through the 
General War-Time Commission. It was opened with a service 
participated in by Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Jews, at 
which the commanding general delivered the address. From that 
time until the camp was discontinued in 1920 it was used by all the 
religious forces of the camp, chaplains, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, 
and voluntary workers, in the utmost sympathy and harmony. 

Far more important than any particular thing which the Com- 
mission did was its demonstration of the fact that at a critical 
time it was possible for American Protestants to act together. 
Through the Commission not only the bodies which were con- 
stituent members of the Federal Council, but churches like the 

^Presbyterian, Episcopal, Congregational, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, 
and Reformed. 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 111 

Lutheran, the Episcopal, and the Southern Baptist which had 
hitherto had no direct representation in the Council,^ found an 
organ of common expression. In this fact above all others lies our 
hope for the future. What has been done once can be done again. 
It must be done again unless we are to slip back into the old habits 
of isolation and rivalry from which for a brief few months we 
escaped into a larger and more unselfish life. 

6. The Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook 

In the light of these facts we must appreciate the significance 
of the last of the committees of the General War-Time Commission, 
one which, while it had its inception during the war, has continued 
to function in time of peace. We refer to the Committee on the 
War and the Religious Outlook.^ 

Long before the war was over those who were responsible for 
the work of the Commission began to realize that when peace came 
their work would be only half done. There would be problems 
connected with demobilization quite as serious as any which had 
been faced by the churches during the war; and the whole ques- 
tion of after-war conditions and plans would require careful study 
and preparation for which it was impossible to begin to get ready 
too soon. With this in view, on April 2, 1918, the Committee on 
the War and the Religious Outlook was formed. This was an 
interdenominational committee of some thirty members, consisting 
of representatives of the larger Protestant churches as well as of 
the two Christian Associations. It was constituted by the joint 
action of the General War-Time Commission of the Churches and 
of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. Its 
purpose, as defined at the time of its appointment, was "to con- 
sider the state of religion as revealed or affected by the war, with 
special reference to the duty and opportunity of the churches, and 
to prepare its findings for submission to the churches." Con- 
ceived under the shadow of war strain and of war responsibility, 
and beginning its work while the Armistice was still in the in- 

^ It is true that the Episcopal Church cooperates with the Council through 
its Commissions on Social Service and Christian Unity, but it is not a con- 
stituent member of the Council. 

^ Cf . the author's pamphlet, "The Church Facing the Future," published by 
the Federal Council, 1921. 



112 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

definite future, it has continued its studies during the years of 
reconstruction, and found the reasons which at first sight seemed 
to justify its appointment reinforced by a closer acquaintance with 
the new conditions under which the major part of its work has 
been done. Indeed, if the Committee rightly interprets the sig- 
nificance of its work, it is to be understood less as a contribution 
to a passing emergency than as a new method of approach to prob- 
lems which are always with us — an experiment in co-operative 
thinking which, if it has any measure of success, will warrant 
its repetition or continuance. 

While created by the initiative of the Federal Council and the 
General War-Time Commission as a result of their conviction that 
the war had laid upon the churches the duty of the most thorough 
self-examination, the Committee was given entire freedom to act 
according to its own judgment as to method of procedure, sub- 
jects to be studied, and persons to be associated in the work. 
Originally consisting of nine members, it has added to its num- 
ber imtil its present membership consists of twenty-eight, repre- 
senting nine different denominations, as well as the two Christian 
Associations. In addition, a large number of other persons — one 
hundred and twenty-three in all — have served on its sub-commit- 
tees, and to a still larger number it is indebted for active assistance 
and helpful suggestions. It has already to its credit five sub- 
stantial volumes, with a sixth to follow,^ as well as a number of 
pamphlets on important contemporaneous issues.^ 

^The volumes referred to above are ''The War and Religion: A Bibliog- 
raphy," 1919; "Religion Among American Men: As Revealed by a Study of 
Conditions in the Army," 1920; "The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the 
War," 1920; "The Church and Industrial Reconstruction," 1920; "Christian 
Unity: Its Principles and Possibilities," 1921, Association Press, New York. A 
sixth volume is soon to appear entitled, "The Teaching Work of the Church." 
With the appearance of this volume, the work of the Committee will be com- 
pleted, 

'Robert E. Speer, 'The War and the Religious Outlook," 1919; W. H. P. 
Faunce, "Christian Principles Essential to a New World Order," 1919; Harry 
Emerson Fosdick, "The Church's Message to the Nation," 1919; Francis J. 
McConnell, "Christian Principles and Industrial Reconstruction," 1919; Wil- 
liam Douglas Mackenzie, "The Church and Religious Education," 1919; 
William P. Shriver, "The New Home Mission of the Church," 1919; Herbert 
N. Shenton, "Christian Aspects of Economic Reconstruction," 1920; Rhoda E. 
McCulloch, "The War and the Woman Point of View," 1920; Charles W. 
Gilkey, "The Local Church After the War," 1920. Association Press, New 
York. 



WHAT THE CHURCH LEARNED IN THE WAR 113 

It had been hoped that these studies would be far enough ad- 
vanced before peace came to serve as a contribution toward a peace 
policy for the Church. Unfortunately this was not the case. 
When in November, 1918, the Armistice was declared, it found 
both church and nation no less unprepared than at the outbreak 
of war. In the unexpected relief at the sudden lifting of the 
war cloud, future difficulties and dangers were under-estimated. 
The war machinery of the churches was discarded as rapidly 
as it had been devised. The Church like the nation moved forward 
into the new conditions introduced by demobilization with little 
suspicion of the gravity of the issues confronting it. 



CHAPTER VII 

WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 

1. The Situation in Which the War Left the Church 

We have seen where the war found the Church. We have seen 
what the Church learned in the war. It remains to point out where 
the war has left the Church ; to show in what spirit and with what 
resources the Church is facing the problems of the new day. 

Three things the war did for the churches. It showed them the 
inadequacy of their present organization and methods; it revealed 
to them the existence of unsuspected resources; it inspired them 
with an extravagant hope. The inadequacy consisted in the 
churches' failure to provide the necessary organization for effective 
co-operation. The resources were the latent idealism in the heart 
of the American people and their undreamed-of capacity for self- 
sacrifice in a worthy cause. The hope was that by some simple 
concerted effort these resources might be effectively mobilized for 
the service of religion, and the churches, which had showed that 
they could work together during the war, might continue their 
united effort on an even larger scale in time of peace. 

In the first place, the war revealed to the churches the in- 
adequacy of the present denominational system. Individuals in 
the different churches had long realized this inadequacy. Their 
knowledge was now shared with multitudes of Christians. They 
realized for the first time the price they had been paying for the 
independence in which they had gloried. They had had the ex- 
perience of working together for a great cause and they had found 
it satisfying and inspiring. 

But the war taught them more than this. It revealed to them 
the latent possibilities in human nature and not least in them- 
selves. It translated the great words about sacrifice and service 
which had been so often on their lips into sober and familiar 
realities. Old words about the cross took on a new meaning. 
They realized, as they had never realized before, what it meant 

114 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 115 

to serve a Master who, though He was rich, yet for their sakes 
had become poor. They, too, had given up what they most prized 
and had been content to make the sacrifice. 

What they had experienced in themselves they had witnessed 
in others. Men and women outside the Christian church, who 
made no profession of religion, people whom they had regarded 
as narrow and selfish, often as downright bad, had responded, 
like themselves, to the country's call. They perceived that the 
capacity for sacrifice is not confined to any group or creed; that 
it is a human capacity, waiting only the occasion to call it forth, 
and with this insight came a great desire to utilize this capacity in 
the cause of religion. 

Out of this double insight — of failure and of capacity — was 
born a great hope — ^the hope that the lessons the war had taught 
might be learned at once and for all time; that the churches, con- 
fronted by so splendid an opportunity, might meet the challenge 
in a spirit as splendid; might throw aside all pettiness and 
provinciality, pride of sect or advantage of position, and ask only 
what each could contribute to the welfare of the whole. This 
ideal of a national church, conscious of its aim and of its power, 
cherished now and again by some exceptional spirit, became for 
one brief moment the inspiring motive of multitudes of Christians. 

2. The Inter church World Movement as the Attempt to Express 
the Church's Post-War Ideals in Action. The Reasons for 

its Failure 

The most signal expression of this hope was the Interchurch 
World Movement.^ It crystallized into a definite programme the 
emotions and aspirations called forth by the war. It was the 
religious counterpart of the League of Nations, and it shared the 
splendor and the weakness of that daring venture. 

We are too near both these great experiments to judge them 

^On the Interchurch World Movement cf. ''Handbook of the Interchurch 
World Movement," New York, 1919; "World Survey by the Interchurch 
World Movement," two volumes, New York, 1920. Cf. also Oldham, 'The 
Interchurch World Movement: Its Possibilities and Problems," in the Inter- 
rmtional Review of Missions, Vol. IX, pp. 182 sq. "The Truth About the Inter- 
church, by a member of the General Committee," Christian Work, December 
11, December 18, 1920; "Christian Unity: Its Principles and Possibilities," 
pp. 140 sq. 



11^ THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

justly. In our reaction from our extravagant hopes it is easy 
for us to exaggerate their weakness and their failure. No great 
ideal is ever realized over-night, and it may well be that the 
historian of the spiritual progress of mankind will look back to 
these two great essays in co-operative endeavor as landmarks by 
which to date the progress of the race. We must be content with 
the more modest task of learning what they can teach us of the 
spiritual state of America immediately after the war. 

The Interchurch World Movement was the attempt to unite 
all the benevolent and missionary agencies of American Protestant- 
ism in a single campaign for money, men, and spiritual power. It 
originated in a conference of representatives of various missionary 
and benevolent boards held in December, 1918, and differed from 
previous efforts of a similar nature in that it included all forms 
of the Church's work both at home and abroad. Its General Com- 
mittee early defined the movement as "a co-operative effort of 
the missionary, educational, and other benevolent agencies of the 
evangelical churches of the United States and of Canada to survey 
unitedly their present common tasks and simultaneously and to- 
gether to secure the necessary resources of men and money and 
power required for these tasks." ^ 

The purposes which the movement set for itself were as fol- 
lows: 2 

"1. To make a thorough analysis of the total world task of 
the church, locality by locality and item by item, to the end 
that neglected fields might be discovered; important existing work 
strengthened; unjustifiable work eliminated; and helpful relation- 
ships between all agencies and workers established. 

"2. To conduct a continuous campaign of education, making 
use of ascertained facts, projected upon broad and varied lines 
and carried out upon a scale adequate to secure the attention oi 
the nation at large, and, if possible, to convince the judgment and 
awake the interest of millions of people now wholly or largely un- 
touched by Christ's call to world service. 

"3. To give co-operative leadership to the Church in the fields 
of industrial relations, philanthropy, evangelism, and education, to 

*Cf. "Christian Unity: Its Principles and Possibilities," p. 140. 
' Op. cit., p. 143. 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 117 

the end that the Church may more wisely and amply meet her 
obligations in these areas of service. 

''4. To conduct a campaign for recruits to the ministry and 
mission service. 

*'5. To make simultaneous and united appeal for funds, suf- 
ficient in amount to support the sort of effort at home and abroad 
demanded by the conditions of the hour." 

Beginning as a voluntary enterprise of the participating boards, 
the work soon assumed such proportions that the official endorse- 
ment of the parent bodies proved necessary. The interest of the 
co-operating churches was recognized in the provision adopted in 
September, 1919, that at least two-thirds of the membership of 
the General Committee should consist of persons approved by the 
various denominations. 

Those who were active in the movement disclaimed any pur- 
pose to set up a new agency with independent administrative powers 
or even to undertake to determine the policy of the co-operating 
churches. They confined their purpose to the "ascertaining and 
portraying of facts, to calling the attention of the churches and 
their agencies to the needs revealed by these facts, and to encourag- 
ing the churches, through co-operative effort, to work out the prob- 
lems involved." ^ Yet in the nature of the case the large scale 
on which the movement was projected, the number of persons 
employed, and the vast sums of money expended gave those who 
were directing it a power out of proportion to the modesty of 
their professions. 

If the responsibility of the movement to the co-operating 
churches was recognized in the statement just quoted, its relation 
to the existing interdenominational agencies was left undefined. No 
provision was made for these in the budget which was to be raised ^ 
and their part in shaping the Church's policy on the basis of the 
facts to be disclosed was left for the future to determine. The plan 
of the Interchurch Movement contemplated two things only: 
the raising of the budgets of the different co-operating denomina- 
tions as these should be determined by the preliminary survey, and 

^ Statement of the General Committee at Atlantic City in January, 1920, 
quoted in "Christian Unity," p. 141, 

^The only exception was in the case of the Missionary Education Move- 
ment. 



118 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

an appeal to friendly citizens, both within and without the Church, 
for an extra sum which would not only defray the expenses of the 
movement, but provide a margin for worthy objects long neglected 
in the denominational field. This sum was placed at forty million 
dollars. 

in its year and a half of existence the movement conducted an 
extensive and vigorous campaign of publicity through conferences, 
addresses, and the daily press; initiated surveys in the fields of 
home missions, foreign missions, and religious education; undertook 
through its Committee on Industrial Relations an investigation of 
the steel strike and both directly through its central ofiice and 
in co-operation with the organizations of the various denomina- 
tions canvassed the churches in the interest of the budgets which 
had been agreed upon. In the case of the denominational bodies 
a large measure of success was reached,^ but the campaign among 
the friendly citizens was a serious disappointment. Scarcely three 
million dollars of the forty millions asked was raised and the de- 
nominations which had expected this fund to take care of the ex- 
penses of the movement were called upon to make contributions for 
this purpose from their own treasuries, which amounted in the case 
of the larger denominations to many hundred thousand dollars. 
The criticisms called forth by this result led to the appointment of a 
reorganization committee in 1920, which, while commending the 
movement for what it had already accomplished, recommended 
radical changes in its methods and ratio of expense. Some months 
later it was voted to discontinue the movement altogether and 
to turn over the survey material which it had gathered to other 
organizations. 

The wide publicity given to the Interchurch World Movement 
and the extravagant hopes which it raised make it important to 

* No exact statistics of the amount raised are available. An incomplete list 
furnished by the secretary of the movement puts the amounts actually re- 
ceived by the co-operating churches during the year from May, 1920, to May, 
1921, at approximately $39,000,000. This list does not include the Methodists, 
who had already completed their campaign, and it takes no account of pledges 
which would greatly increase the total. 

The total amount raised by all the co-operating bodies is put by a writer 
in the Christian Work at scarcely less than $200,000,000. This sum includes 
pledges covering a five-year period. Cf. "The Truth about the Interchurch," 
op. cit., December 11, 1920, p. 713. 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 119 

learn what it can teach us both as to the causes which inspired 
the movement and the reasons for its failure. 

For one thing it teaches us the power of a great ideal to unite 
and inspire. No one who was present in the upper room on that 
momentous December day when the Interchurch World Movement 
was born ^ can forget the thrill of expectation which stirred those 
who had gathered there. They were men of long experience — sec- 
retaries of church boards, professors in theological seminaries, vet- 
eran workers in the cause of home and foreign missions, and they 
knew the wealinesses and limitations of the bodies they served 
to the full. But they had seen a vision — the vision of a united 
church uniting a divided world, and under the spell of what they 
saw all things seemed possible. Difficulties were waved aside, 
doubters were silenced. In the face of an opportunity so un- 
paralleled there seemed but one thing to do, and that was to go 
forward. 

What followed we know only too well. The causes which led to 
the failure of the movement have been so fully explained that it is 
needless to linger over them here — the failure to take account of 
the time element; the disposition to make expectation do duty for 
accomplishment; the difficulty of securing an efficient staff for a 
work which must be done quickly if at all; the lack of a proper 
sense of proportion as between income and outgo; above all, the 
failure to lay a sound basis for the work by the quiet conferences 
and careful planning which are essential to permanent success — 
these were some of the more obvious reasons for failure. But above 
and beyond all these, there were two which need more careful con- 
sideration, for they give us the key to our understanding of the 
situation in which the Church found itself after the war. The first 
was the failure to take account of the strength of the denomina- 
tional spirit in the country ; the second was inability to foresee the 
widespread moral reaction into which the sudden cessation, from the. 
strain of war would plunge the nation and the Church. 

When the Interchurch WorM Mx)vement was first conceived, 
those who were responsible for its initiation hoped to make it an 

*The meeting which initiated the Interchurch World Movement was held 
at 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, on December 17, 1918, at the invita- 
tion of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Southern Presbyterian Church. 



120 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

all embracing movement. They planned a single central com- 
mittee in which all the different interests should be represented, 
not only the denominational church boards, and other oflBcial bodies, 
but the Christian Associations and similar voluntary agencies as 
well. It was their wish to provide a single treasury into which 
all monies contributed should be paid and from which the due 
proportion should be distributed to each of the co-operating 
agencies.^ 

But such an arrangement proved impossible to effect. The 
same influences which had led to the desire for effective inter- 
denominational co-operation had been operating in the denomina- 
tions as well. To them as well as to the Church at large the war 
had been a revelation at once of weakness and of strength — weak- 
ness in the ineffectiveness of their denominational organization, 
strength in the spiritual resources of their members. To them, 
too, the war came as a call to set their house in order, and the 
result appeared in a number of denominational forward move- 
ments, of which the Interchurch World Movement was compelled 
to take account.^ 

For one thing it found the denominations already committed 
to definite plans which had gone too far to be recalled, even had 
the will to change them been present. But more significant still 

* Cf. "The Truth about the Interchurch," pp. 712, 714. 
. ^A list of the more important movements is as follows: The New World 
Movement of the Northern Baptist Convention (now under the direction of 
the General Board of Promotion) ; the Forward Movement of the Christian 
Church; the Congregational World Movement; the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Educational Endowment Commission; the United Christian Missionary So- 
ciety; the Centennial Movement of the Churches of God; the Department 
of Nation-Wide Campaign of the Presiding Bishop and Council of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church; the Forward Movement of the Evangelical 
Association; the Forward Movement of the Evangelical Synod; the Forward 
Movement of Friends in America; the Committee on Conservation and Ad- 
vance of the Council of the Boards of Benevolence of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; the Centenary Movement of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South ; 
the Forward Movement in the Methodist Protestant Church ; the Larger Life 
Movement of the Moravian Church; the New Era Movement of the Pres- 
byterian Church in the U. S. A.; the Presbyterian (U. S.) Progressive Pro- 
gram; the Progress Campaign of the Reformed Church in America; the 
Forward Movement of the Reformed Church in the U. S.; the New Forward 
Movement of the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference; the United En- 
listment Movement of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ; the 
Forward Movement of the United Evangelical Church ; the New World Move- 
ment of the United Presbyterian Church. 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 121 

it found a purpose to perfect and strengthen the denominational 
organization which left little energy and leisure for effective co- 
operation in a movement so ambitious as the Interchurch World 
Movement. In two important respects it proved necessary to 
modify the original plans. It was necessary, in the first place, 
in order to preserve the interchurch character of the movement, 
to restrict the co-operating bodies to the official agencies of the 
denominations; it was necessary, in the second place, to abandon 
the central treasury, except for the purpose of financing the move- 
ment itself, and for such further objects as the generosity of the 
general public might make possible. 

A similar situation met the General War-Time Commission 
of the Churches on a smaller scale a year before, but it was dealt 
with in a different way. Here, too, it was at first proposed to 
finance the entire war work of the churches from a central treasury, 
and here, too, the plan was abandoned because of its conflict with 
the denominational progranames. All that it proved practicable 
to do was to provide for common publicity, as was done later 
by the Interchurch World Movement on a far larger scale. The 
cost of this publicity was assumed by the bodies which united in 
the campaign from the funds of their war commissions, whereas 
in the case of the Interchurch it was hoped to cover all the ex- 
penses of the movement from the contributions of friendly citi- 
zens. But there was this further difference between the two plans, 
that in the former case the expenses of the co-operative work 
carried on by the Commission itself were assumed by the co-operat- 
ing bodies as a part of their own denominational programme, 
whereas, in the latter case, no provision at all was made for the 
interdenominational agencies like the Federal Council, the Home 
Missions Council, the Foreign Missions Conference, the Council 
of Church Boards of Education, etc., whose work corresponded in 
time of peace to the work done by the War-Time Commission in 
time of war. Thus the net result of the campaign, appealing as 
it did to the sources from which these agencies had been accus- 
tomed to draw their support, was to leave them for the moment 
weaker than before. The bond between the denominational and 
interdenominational programme which had been knit by the war 
was parted, and in the discouragement caused by the failure of the 
campaign, so far as its interdenominational features were con- 



122 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

cerned, many were led to lose faith in the co-operative programme 
of the churches. 

One reason for what would otherwise appear a surprising over- 
sight is doubtless to be found in the extravagant hopes entertained 
for the friendly citizens' campaign. From the funds raised in this 
way it was hoped to finance not only the movement itself, but 
also to take care of the interdenominational interests referred to 
above. The nearly complete failure of this campaign left these 
most important enterprises almost wholly unprovided for. 

But even had the campaign been successful, the moral effect 
would have been different from that reached in the case of the 
General War-Time Commission. There the co-operating churches 
themselves became directly and wholly responsible for the inter- 
denominational work done by the Commission. In this case the 
responsibility would have been assumed by the general public. But 
this would have left the interdenominational work interdenomina- 
tional in name only and would have made of the Interchurch 
World Movement, in spite of the fact that it disclaimed responsi- 
bility for determining policies, the only really responsible agent 
directing the Church's work along interdenominational lines. 

There was a deeper cause for the failure of the Interchurch 
World Movement, and that was the failure of its leaders to antici- 
pate the psychological effect of the coming of peace. With the 
cessation of the long strain, there was a sudden let-down that 
manifested itself in unexpected and disheartening ways. Those 
who had carried responsibility bravely were now eager to throw 
it off. Those who had thought only for others now remembered 
that charity begins at home. Two years of self-denial and re- 
nunciation were followed by a feverish demand for excitement and 
self-indulgence. The prevailing spirit was intensified by the temper 
of the returning soldiers. Surfeited with the disciplme of camp 
life and wearied with its unutterable monotony, they wanted change 
at any cost. The thought of new sacrifices and abnegations re- 
volted them. 

Their attitude to the prohibition amendment is a case in point.. 
Even those who cared nothing for drinking were indignant that a 
question of such national importance should have been decided 
while they were away. They drank, not for the sake of drinking, 
but as an affirmation of personal liberty. Their attitude toward thi?. 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH • 123 

question was symptomatic of a spirit which showed itself in other 
directions — in the extravagance in food and dress, in the mad 
thirst for pleasure, in the breaking down of the old standards 
of restraint between the sexes. All these phenomena of after- 
war psychology were natural — we now perceive, inevitable — results 
of the situation in which the country found itself. 

This was not the atmosphere in which to launch such a move- 
ment as the Interchurch. It is easy to see this now; but at the 
time no one was wise enough to do so. Church and country were 
still under the spell of the past. Only gradually and by a process 
of disillusionment as painful as it was salutary did they wake 
to the realities of the present. When they did so, it was too late 
to correct the mistakes that had already been made. 

We have an almost perfect parallel in the League of Nations. 
Here, too, an extraordinary situation gave birth to an extravagant 
hope which was disappointed because those who entertained it 
tried to crowd into a few short months results possible of attain- 
ment only through a slow process of education requiring years, 
if not decades. It is clear that such a situation presents dangers 
which can be guarded against only as they are understood. 

3. Dangers to be Guarded Against: (a) an Unreasonable Con- 
demnation of the Denominational Spirit; (b) the Abandon- 
ment of the Co-operative Ideal 

To one who has lived through the exaltation of the war en- 
thusiasm, the revival of the denominational spirit which we see 
to-day is hard to bear.^ It seems a deliberate turning back upon 
the lessons plainly taught us— a definite refusal of the oppor- 
tunity unexpectedly put in our hands. But there is another side 
to the matter. The denominational revival which we are wit- 
nessing does not necessarily mean loss of faith in the co-operative 
ideal. On the contrary, it may be a step toward its ultimate 
realization. 

Our war experience has much to teach us here. It was not 
the presence of highly efficient denominational organizations which 
proved the greatest obstacle to our successful co-operation in 

*For an exceptionally severe criticism of the denominational spirit as 
applied to missions, cf. McAfee, "Some Unchristian Aspects of Christian Mis- 
sions," Christian Century, October 27, 1921. 



124 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the war, but their absence. For effective work more is needed than 
goodwill. There must be persons familiar with the situation and 
armed with ample power to act for the whole. But these were 
lacking in more than one important conmiunion. It was not the 
denominations of Congregational polity that gave the most effective 
help to the General War-Time Commission, but highly organized 
churches like the Lutheran, the Episcopalian, and the Presbyterian 
—and if in the case of the Baptists there was a happy exception 
to the rule, it was because they had themselves become convinced 
of the weakness of their former methods and had set themselves 
resolutely to correct them.^ A chain is only as strong as its 
weakest link, and if the churches are to co-operate effectively with 
one another, they must first learn to co-operate effectively within 

themselves. 

This fact should not blind us to the dangers of the denomina- 
tional spirit or the fact that added strength always carries with 
it a temptation to be indifferent to the needs of others. We shall 
have abundant occasion to be reminded of this as we proceed. 
But it should serve to guard us against unqualified condemnation 
of a tendency which may well prove— when seen in its larger 
perspective— to have its own contribution to make to the progress 
of the Kingdom of God. 

For this reason the present revival of denominational loyalty 
is not wholly to be regretted. Through the various denomina- 
tional movements which the last two years have brought into 
being— the Methodist Centenary, the Presbyterian New Era, the 
Baptist New World Movement, and the others, new powers have 
been released and new resources uncovered, which, if rightly 
guided, are full of promise for the future of the American Church. 
The vision of a new day has been brought to many a rural com- 
munity hitherto untouched by the spirit of progress. Many a 
weak church has learned to its surprise that it had money enough 
and to spare. These facts we must take into account if we 
would estimate the real significance of the Interchurch World 
Movement. Its campaign for its own funds may have failed sig- 
nally. But the great totals rolled up for the various denomina- 
tional movements which co-operated in it are the best proof that 

^Cf. p. 82. 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 125 

its message found a wider hearing than the official returns would 
lead one to suppose. 

To return to our parallel of the League of Nations. Here, too, 
the apparent failure may prove less serious and less complete 
than at first appeared. The opposition to the plan as first pro- 
posed did not spring wholly from selfish and unworthy motives. 
In part it was due to an unwillingness to commit to a distant 
and already over-burdened body the decision of questions which 
could only be rightly worked out with the co-operation of those 
immediately concerned. As with churches, so with nations, only 
the union of the strong with the strong produces strength, and for 
the realization of the great ideal which has appealed so persuasively 
to the men of our day — a league of free peoples for the preserva- 
tion of world peace — we must first have peoples who are free and 
who desire peace. 

For this reason the present period of hesitation and discussion 
is not without its compensations. Inquiry into the reason for the 
failure of the plan first proposed is having an important educa- 
tional effect upon the different nations. In our own country 
especially it is showing us faults in our own organization and 
spirit which we must remedy if we are ever to hope to co-operate 
effectively with other peoples in international affairs. Conversely 
it is showing us how impossible it is for us to deal effectively 
even with our own domestic affairs unless we assume a right at- 
titude toward the other peoples with whose destiny our own is 
ever more inextricably interwoven. As in the Church the choice 
is not between denominationalism and interdenominationalism but 
between the right and the wrong kind of each, so in the nation the 
antithesis is not between nationalism and internationalism but 
between the right and the wrong type of each. The more ear- 
nestly we seek our own highest interests, the more inevitably we 
shall be compelled to seek the interests of others and vice 
versa. 

The first danger to be guarded against, then, is an unreason- 
able condemnation of the denominational spirit. But there is an- 
other danger even greater, and that is that in our disappointment 
at immediate failure we may lose faith in ultimate victory. For 
the Christian the one unpardonable sin is lack of faith. If the 



126 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

vision that we saw of a united Church seemed to our enthusiasm 
nearer than the facts warrant, that does not prove that it was 
a delusion. What we learned of man's deepest self in those days 
of exceptional testing was a true revelation. All that is necessary 
is for us to use it in the right way. 

A year after the war ended an American visitor found his way to 
England, anxious to learn how the fiery trial of those five years had 
affected a country to which he owed much and which he had left 
in the fall of 1914, when the war had scarcely begun. It was a 
painful experience. Weariness and depression were everywhere evi- 
dent. One looked in vain for any large movement for national, or 
for international, reconstruction. To the questions: ''What are you 
doing to get ready for the new day? What is being planned to carry 
out the programme of the Archbishop's commissions?"^ this answer 
was made: "You have come too soon. We are tired and need rest. 
Give us another five years and you will find a different situation. 
This is not the time to act, but to think and to plan." The longer 
the visitor stayed in England and the more he learned of what was 
really going on in the minds and the hearts of the men and women 
to whom the future belongs, the more he was convinced that this 
answer was correct. 

It is in a similar spirit that we must judge the present situa- 
tion in the American Church. This is a period for thought and 
for preparation. What we have learned about the spiritual re- 
sources of the country and of the Church we shall never forget. 
But we have not yet learned how to make effective use of the 
resources we have discovered. For this time is needed and pa- 
tience—the open mind and the open heart. In the meantime let 
us do the things that lie nearest at hand, the obvious and neces- 
sary things in oiu- parishes and in our denominations. They will 
put us just so much farther forward when the time comes for the 
larger co-operative movements which so certainly lie ahead. 

^At the conclusion of the war the Archbishops of Canterbury and York 
appointed a number of commissions to study various phases of the church's 
post-war duty and to make recommendations. The most important of these 
dealt with such subjects as the following: "The Teaching Office of the 
Church"; "The Worship of the Church"; "The Evangelistic Work of the 
Church"; "Administrative Reform of the Church"; "Christianity and In- 
dustrial Problems." 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 127 

4. The Present Condition and Prospects of the Protestant 

Ministry 

Before we leave this preliminary stage of our discussion there 
is one more question which needs to be raised, and that is the ef- 
fect of the present situation upon the men who have the most direct 
interest in the success of the Church — its ministers. 

When the war ended, there was a very general hope on the 
part of those who were responsible for the leadership of the Church 
that there would be a great accession to the number of candidates 
for the ministry. That expectation has not as yet been realized. 
At first, indeed, it seemed as if the tendency were the other way. 
Many seminaries reported a falling off in attendance, and in more 
than one of the larger communions it seemed as if the question 
of the supply for the ministry might become a serious one. Later 
developments have been more reassuring.^ Taking the country 
as a whole, the number of students entering the seminaries is 
increasing and the reports as to their quality are excellent. It is 
too soon, however, to draw any conclusion from the limited evi- 
dence which is available. In what follows we shall ignore the 
special influences which the war has set in motion and con- 
sider the prospects of the ministry in the light of the general situ- 
ation which our previous study has revealed. 

When we approach the matter from this point of view we must 
admit that there is matter for disquietude. Those who are ac- 
quainted with conditions in ministerial circles have observed a 
certain restlessness and anxiety on the part of many of their cleri- 
cal friends. It is not that they are less loyal to the cause to which 
they have given their lives or less convinced of the unique oppor- 
tunity before the Christian ministry. On the contrary, there has 
never been an age when that opportunity was greater or when 
a more impressive appeal could be made to young men and women 

* Cf. the careful study by O. D. Foster, "Student Attendance at the Protes- 
tant Theological Seminaries," in Christian Education, December, 1920; also 
Robert L. Kelly, "The Rising Tide of Ministerial Enlistment," Christian 
TTor/c, October 29, 1921. The report of the Life Work Committee of the 
Council of Church Boards of Education at their meeting in January, 1921, 
shows a marked increase over the preceding year in the enrollment in the' 
theological seminaries of practically all the Protestant denominations. 



128 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

to enter the service of the Church. But there is a feeling that the 
conditions under which the rank and file of ministers are working 
are not such as to provide an adequate outlet for their best powers 
and that the profession as a profession does not furnish that guar- 
antee of permanent employment which the wise man naturally 
seeks in the choice of his life work. In the past one of the 
great sources of supply for the ministry has been the sons of 
the manse, and the manse is to-day the greatest single influence 
in leading men into the ministry. It is all the more significant that 
now and again one finds a minister shaking his head over the 
thought of his son's following him in his profession and raising 
the question in his own mind whether he could not serve God 
more effectively in some other way. 

This is due in no small part to the increasing appeal of other 
forms of life work. The time when the ministry had a prima facie 
claim upon any man who desired to lead an altruistic life is long 
past. There are many other professions which open the way to 
an unselfish career — medicine, philanthropy in its various forms, 
teaching. Even business is losing its exclusive association with 
money-getting and is coming to be regarded in a new light as a 
form of public service. From a letter from a young man looking 
forward to international banking as a life work, I quote the follow- 
ing lines written under the impulse of the new contacts which service 
in a foreign country had brought about: 

"I want to be a force some day in the training and inspiring of our new 
professional foreign banking class. I want them to be filled with the idea that 
their only excuse for existing is the fulfilling of a certain essential economic 
function, considering themselves as servants of both their own and other 
peoples, and receiving compensation only in proportion 'as the laborer is 
worthy of his hire.' Only in this frame of mind can they justify their existence 
in a socially-minded world. They are the real ambassadors of their country. 
On them rests the real development of the country's foreign policy. They 
work with the forces that have caused wars to be fought, and only by their 
help and the help of other business men can the wisest and most lofty plans 
of statesmen be given content and meaning." 

This is typical of what more than one young man is thinking 
to-day whose spirit a generation or even a decade ago would have 
led him into the ministry. The labor movement is attracting not 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 129 

a few men of this type. Graduates of theological seminaries of 
ripe intellectual power and thoroughgoing consecration are to-day 
finding scope as labor leaders for the gifts which others of their 
fellow-students are exercising in the ministry. 

But quite apart from the competition of other forms of service, 
there are conditions in the ministry itself which give cause for 
serious thought. For one thing the salary paid the average min- 
ister is such as to make one wonder how it is possible for him 
to support a family without outside help. As a matter of fact, 
the statistics which we have already quoted show that the 63,000 
ministers who report full salaries received on an average less than 
$1,100 a year.i So striking are these figures that defenders of 
the United States Steel Corporation against the criticism of the 
Interchurch Report found it a convenient retort to say, in answer 
to the contention that the corporation did not pay a living wage, 
that the churches would do well to raise their own salaries to the 
point which made a decent living possible before they undertook 
to criticize what others were doing. 

Yet necessary as it is to take account of this matter of sal- 
ary in estimating the present appeal of the ministry as a life work, 
it is not the determining factor. The ministry has never promised 
large financial rewards, and those who are attracted to it by 
the opportunity of service it offers will not be deterred by the 
sacrifices it entails. All such men ask is a living wage and some 
decent guarantee for old age, and the legitimacy of this request 
is being generally recognized. Signs are not wanting that the 
same readjustment of the salary scale which we have seen in the 
teaching profession is taking place in the ministry, and the at- 
tempt of the larger denominations to establish pension funds to 
care for the minister and his family in sickness and old age is 
meeting with gratifying success.^ The more influential pulpits 

' It should be remembered that these figures, taken from the United States 
Census returns for 1916, do not furnish us with such relevant facts as whether 
the minister receives a manse as well as a salary, nor, in the case of ministers 
servmg more than one congregation, whether the salary represents the total 
amount received from all sources, or only that paid by a single congregation. 

On this matter of ministerial salary, cf. the statistics gathered by the 
Interchurch World Movement, World Survey, American volume, pp. 267 sq. 

""The present capital of the combined pension and annuity funds of the 
Congregational, Protestant Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, and 
Northern Baptist churches already totals over $50,000,000. 



130 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of the large denominations care generously for their ministers, and 
the standard of compensation for the ministry as a whole is steadily 
rising. 

More serious in its bearing upon the prospects of the Christian 
ministry is the condition which lies back of the low salary which 
the average minister receives. His salary is small because his 
congregation is small, and his congregation is small because there 
are so many churches. The spirit of individual initiative and in- 
dependence which, from one point of view, has been the strength 
of the American church here reveals its characteristic weakness. 
Churches have been planted all over America — Baptist, Presby- 
terian, Methodist, as the case may be, but no one has stopped 
to ask whether a particular church was needed in a particular place 
or whether a combination of forces would not have made possible 
a stronger and a more effective appeal. We are to study elsewhere 
the effects of this disastrous policy, or rather lack of policy, upon 
the local church and to consider what steps are being taken to bring 
about a change.^ We are now speaking of the effects of the policy 
upon the life of the minister himself. 

It must be admitted that these have been most unfortunate. 
Conditions have been created which have made it difficult for a 
man of initiative and ability to find adequate scope for his powers 
in many of our Protestant churches. Christian people have been 
accustomed to think of their church as designed to minister to their 
own private interests and needs rather than as a part of the great 
spiritual enterprise that has for its purpose the bringing in of the 
Kingdom of God. For a small task only a small man is needed, 
and the suspicion that the ministry as at present organized offers 
a man a little job is one of the most serious obstacles in the way 
of attracting strong men to the profession. 

It is not strange, then, that we should find a large part of the 
Christian ministry recruited from men who have not had a col- 
lege or even a seminary training. This is perhaps natural in 
bodies like the Baptist and Methodist which have been doing 
work on the firing-line and make large use of an itinerant min- 
istry. But it is true also of churches which inherit a different 
tradition and have long prided themselves upon their high standard 

*Cf. Chapter XI. 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 131 

of ministerial education. Recent figures show that of the present 
Congregational ministry, large numbers have not had a college 
education/ and the condition in the Presbyterian Church is not 
dissimilar. This is an inevitable result of the unsatisfactory con- 
dition to which reference has already been made, and we shall 
not expect any great improvement in the character of our min- 
isterial supply until we alter the character of the demand which 
that supply is designed to meet. 

It is true that there is abimdant evidence on the other side. 
In every part of the Church, in city and in country, we find con- 
tented and successful ministers proving by their present experience 
that the ministry to-day offers scope for the best powers of the 
strongest men. At no time in its history has the Church been 
able to offer the man of independence and initiative a more varied 
field of service. At no time has there been a larger constituency 
conscious of their need of the kind of ministry that the Church 
alone can render. The fact remains that in wide sections of the 
country the old, narrow, self-satisfied spirit still lives on. Until 
that is banished we must expect to find young men who want 
to make their life tell to the uttermost looking doubtfully at the 
Christian ministry. 

One more difiiculty remains to be named, in some respects 
the most perplexing of all, and that is the insecurity of the min- 
ister's tenure. Let us suppose a minister fairly started in his 
career, happy and successful in his work. What guarantee has 
he that this success will continue? We have all heard of the 
ministerial dead-line, that mysterious line as invisible as the 
equator which separates the years of a man's active work from 
the time when he suddenly finds that his services are no longer 
in demand. There is such a line in other professions than the 
ministry. In teaching it lies somewhere between sixty-five and 
seventy. The time when a man becomes eligible for a Carnegie 
pension would be a convenient way of indicating it. But in the 
ministry this line is determined by public opinion, and public 
opinion has been pushing it farther and farther back, until to-day 

'The Secretary of the National Council of Congregational Churches ex- 
presses the judgment based upon the information at present available that 
probably not more than one-half of the Congregational ministers in the 
United States are college or seminary men." 



132 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

we are told that it is nearer fifty than sixty .^ Just when a man 
ought to be reaching his ripest power, just when many a man has 
really reached his ripest power, he finds himself pushed aside 
for younger men. 

Two causes have combined to produce this unfortunate and, 
let us hope, temporary state of affairs. The first is the lack of any 
adequate system for locating ministers; the second the same nar- 
row and individualistic conception of the Church to which we have 
already more than once referred. 

Most serious of all the consequences of the decentralizing 
tendency in American Christianity is the lack of any central au- 
thority which is responsible for the placing of the individual min- 
ister in the field where he is fitted to do his best work. Different 
churches have their committees on supply, some local, some na- 
tional,2 but in the great majority of cases the minister finds 
his job by the same hit-or-miss system which has hitherto reg- 
ulated employment in other industries. The Methodist Church 
alone, with its system of rotation in office, has been able com- 
pletely to solve the difficulty. In the Methodist Church there is a 
place for every man and a man for every place, and some one whose 
business it is to put the man in the place. The Episcopal Church 
through its diocesan system comes next, but the bishops are limited 
in what they can do by the powers of the local congregation. 

But the lack of provision for any central means of placing 
ministers is only the outward sign of a deeper and more funda- 
mental cause. This is the lack of a realizing sense of the es- 
sential unity of the Church's work. The local congregation is 
thought of as an independent unit to be managed by its officers 

^Cf. the suggestive article in the Continent for March 2, 1922, ''Why I 
Have Lost Hope," by a pastor fifty years old. 

"The most noteworthy example of the latter method is the Presbyterian 
Church in the U. S. A. which has created a national Department of Vacancy 
and Supply with its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. From this centre an 
effort is being made to create similar committees in every synod and presby- 
tery, through which the problem of locating ministers can be dealt with in a 
self-respecting way. In the churches of Congregational polity little has as yet 
been done. A well-known Baptist minister, being asked as to the method 
followed in his own communion, answered, "With us it is every man for him- 
self and the devil take the hindmost." Light on present conditions in the 
Congregational churches is shed by a recent pamphlet issued by the Congre- 
gational Educational Society entitled, "American Congregationalism and Our 
Pastorless Churches," 1921. 



WHERE THE WAR LEFT THE CHURCH 133 

on business principles with the primary aim of making both ends 
meet, rather than as a part of a great spiritual society in which 
each unit co-operates with the others in work for a common cause. 
With such a system we cannot but expect to find waste in the 
human material with which the system is concerned. There are 
ways of dealing with the problem of the older man in the min- 
istry just as there are ways of dealing with the older man in other 
^ walks of life^ but there is no way which does not require the co- 
operation of all those responsible for the Church's work in a com- 
mon plan which covers the field as a whole.^ 

We have a suggestion of what may be done in the case of our 
mission boards, both home and foreign. Here the missionary en- 
terprise is conceived as a unit and each missionary is sent to the 
place in the field for which he is believed to be best fitted and 
transferred from place to place as experience shows that such 
change is needed. More is accomplished by this than a change of 
machinery. A new spirit is introduced into the entire enterprise, 
a sense of common responsibility and brotherhood which dignifies 
the work of each individual who takes part in it. 

Such a conception of the Christian ministry is needed in the 
Church at large. The older individualism is breaking down and 
a new spirit is abroad in the churches, but it has not yet devised 
the proper machinery for its expression. If in what has thus far 
been said emphasis has been laid upon the weakness of our pres- 
ent system, this is not due to any lack of confidence in the future 
of the ministry or doubt that to-day, as in every past age, the 
ministry offers the man of ability and consecration the finest of 
all fields of service, but rather to call attention to the great- 
ness of the issues at stake and to reinforce those influences in the 
Church which are working for a better day. What these influences 
are we shall consider in the chapters that follow. 

^ One of the finest pieces of work done in the war was done by a Presby- 
terian minister over sixty years of age, who entered one of the large industrial 
establishments in a Western city as welfare worker. Through his tact and 
. resourcefulness he so altered the morale of the workers that the output of the 
plant more than doubled. Yet this same man had been seeking a church in 
vain for years. 



PART III 



DEFINING THE IDEAL 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE OLD RELIGION IN THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT^ 

1. Principles which Determine Our Ideal for the Church 

Thus far we have been giving a bird's-eye view of the situa- 
tion before the Church. We have described that situation as it 
meets us in the life of the individual Christian, in the country as 
a whole, and in the world at large. We have seen a number of 
independent and conflicting factors operating, some old, some new, 
presenting baffling problems in the field of education, of politics, 
of social and industrial reform. But there is one problem which 
is more important and more perplexing than all the rest, and that 
is the nature of the Church itself. What exactly is the function 
of the Church in human society and what must it become if 
it is to realize the divine ideal? Interesting as it is to learn what 
the churches have been doing in the last dozen years, it is still 
more important to know what they have been thinking; for upon 
the clear conception of an ideal depends in no small measure the 
ability to realize it. 

There is no ready-made source of such information. Unlike 
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism has no official spokesman to 
define the Church's ideal. That ideal shapes itself little by little 
in the minds of multitudes of men, but few formulate their con- 
clusions in clear and concise form. We must glean our informa- 
tion here and there from the books of individuals and of social 
groups, from the action of official bodies in times of crisis or 
responsibility, from the press, religious and secular; above all, from 
the trend of events which express more accurately than words 
can do the unconscious faith of men. We must be on our guard 
against the ghosts of which we have said that history is full — 
ideas and movements which have had their day but still maintain 
the semblance of life. Especially important for our purpose are 

'Cf. W. Adams Brown, 'The Old Theology and the New," The Harvard 
Theological Review, Vol. IV, pp. 1-24. 

137 



138 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the tendencies which appear in student circles and in groups of 
thinking men, old and young. These, too, we must use with cau- 
tion, remembering that permanence is the one sure test of truth 
and correcting present impressions by the longer look. 

Some truths we may take for granted as having been confirmed 
by the experience of the past few years: first, that the primary 
concern of the Church is with religion; secondly, that the mission 
of the Christian Church is to interpret and to illustrate the prin- 
ciples of the Christian religion, and to win men everywhere to 
allegiance to Jesus; thirdly, that it is the special responsibility of 
the Protestant churches to guard what has been won by the 
Protestant emphasis upon freedom, and to work out appropriate 
forms in which freedom may express itself in unity. 

It seems elementary to say that the primary concern of the 
Church is with religion. But it is none the less necessary to do so. 
The Church exists to remind men of the fact of God and to help 
them to realize their personal relation to Him. Many other ac- 
tivities it shares with other institutions. Worship is its specialty. 

But there are various forms of religion, and each has its own 
church. The mission of the Christian Church is to witness to the 
revelation which God has made of Himself through Jesus Christ. 
This carries with it a distinct philosophy of life and a correspond- 
ing view of human duty and destiny. The Christian believes that 
there is one God who is all men's Father, who cares for their 
welfare and seeks their salvation, one Master who came to save 
the world and who has given in His own person the supreme 
demonstration of self-sacrificing love, one Spirit who pleads with 
men to be reconciled with God, to accept His forgiveness, and 
to take as their standard of conduct and service the example of 
Jesus. 

This gives the Christian religion a point of contact with the 
wider human problems of which we have been speaking. They 
are not irrelevant to the main business of the Church, which is to 
be a witness to God. For God as revealed by Christ is interested 
in men, cares for their welfare, and wishes His human children 
to share His redemptive purpose. 

The Christian therefore knows that the mission of the Church 
must be as broad as humanity. He has learned from his Master 
that each human individual is a child of God and a potential 



THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 139 

member of his Kingdom. Difference of nationality, race, or class 
must therefore be included within a larger unity. Because Christ 
broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile 
and offered salvation freely to men of every race, the Church must 
be a brotherhood as wide as mankind. 

This sets the Christian Church its distinctive task, which is not 
only to satisfy our need of worship but also to put before men 
the character of the God who is to be worshipped, and the life 
He requires of His worshippers. This the Church must do as Jesus 
did, by making a direct appeal to the conscience of each in- 
dividual. There is no wholesale way of saving men. Each must 
face the supreme issues for himself and decide accordingly. Through 
all the chords of the Social Gospel should run the deep under- 
tone of personal religion. 

One further conclusion we may presuppose, and that is the 
importance of conserving the gains won for mankind by the 
Protestant Reformation through its emphasis upon freedom. This 
follows from what we have already said of the importance of the 
individual. Without liberty you cannot realize Jesus' ideal for 
humanity. In His Church therefore free assent must furnish the 
bond of union. 

It is true that the religious liberty we enjoy has been bought 
at a heavy price. The Reformers, to attain their chief end, tem- 
porarily sacrificed values in the older religion which must be re- 
covered for the Church of the future. Abuses have resulted from 
our over-emphasis upon freedom, with a resulting depreciation of 
institutional religion. We have already had occasion to comment 
on the weaknesses of our American Christianity, its individualism, 
its provincialism, its denominationalism. But when all is said, 
the Reformation represented a great step forward in human his- 
tory. It was the counterpart in religion of the movement which 
in politit^s we call democracy; at least it was the first step toward 
such a movement. To attempt to ignore it or to belittle it is futile, 
most of all in a democratic society like our own. Our way lies for- 
ward, not back, and this is true for those who are most conscious 
of the value of our CathoHc inheritance. 

But if we go forward along the path of freedom we must not 
forget that the goal to which it leads is unity. Our fathers gave 
us a principle and a method. They would have been the last 



140 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

to claim finality for the application of it. In the interest of lib- 
erty they sacrificed unity. It is equally true (as we shall see 
when we come closer to denominationalism) that in their desire for 
unity they were not willing to grant to others the liberty they 
claimed for themselves. We must achieve a Church which makes 
room both for liberty and for unity. 

This, then, is the task of the American Church to-day: to ex- 
press in forms adapted to our modern democratic society that type 
of Christian faith and experience which has proved its validity 
by the supreme test which democracy recognizes — the test of free 
experiment co-operatively undertaken. 

But is this possible? Can the old religion still maintain itself 
under the strain of the new conditions? Can it sustain the the- 
oretical test of the intellectual movement which we call modern 
science? Can it meet the practical test of the social and economic 
movement which we call industrialism, with its political counter- 
part in the rivalry of races and of nations for prestige and for 
power? To ask these questions is to raise the whole question of 
the relation of church and state, with the deeper question still 
to which it points back, the question of the relation of institutions 
to the spiritual life they express and foster. 

2. Effect of the Scientific Movement upon the Ideals of the Older 

Protestantism 

We begin with the intellectual test; the problem presented to 
the Christian Church by that complex of new influepces and ideas 
which we sum up under the name of modem science. Science forces 
Christian people to re-examine the reasons for their beliefs and to 
test the process by which they have arrived at them. It substitutes 
for the atmosphere of unquestioning trust, the spirit of critical 
inquiry, and with the substitution raises a host of detailed questions 
which demand an answer J 

While it is not easy to over-emphasize the importance of the 
issues raised by modern science for the Church, it is well to re- 
member that the number of persons directly and con^iously af- 
fected by them is less than we are apt to suppose. |^ Those who 
move in the academic atmosphere of our colleges and schools 
V find it difficult to realize how slowly ideas move, and what vast 
sections of our population still live their lives and think their 



THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 141 

thoughts as if Galileo had never lived nor Darwin written.y For 
most people, science affects religion indirectly through the changes 
which it produces in social organization, rather than through any 
immediate alteration in the form of their beliefs. Still, even in 
the latter sphere, the influence of science upon religion has been 
far-reaching, and no attempt to define the ideal of the modern 
Church would be complete which did not t^ke it into account. 

There are two ways in which modern science has affected the 

task of the Church. ^ It has affected it as pure science by its chal- 

--lenge of the assumptions on which the older theology was based.J 

vJt has affected it even more profoundly as applied science by the 

changes which it has brought about in the external environment 

in which the Church must work:i 

To begin with the former, the effect of the modern scientific 
spirit upon the assumptions upon which the older theology is based. 
From the beginning of Christian history we find Christian teachers 
attaching immense importance to right thinking in religion; and 
this emphasis is justified by the\close relation between belief and 
conduct. Our beliefs are important, in the first place, because they 
define our aims. / ,They are important, in the second place, because 
they reinforce our motives. This is especially true of a religion 
like Christianity, which professes to bring a definite Gospel and 
is committed to a world-wide missionary enterprise. It is clear 
that whatever weakens faith in the correctness of the premises on 
which the enterprise is based must weaken the motives which 
lead its adherents to engage in it. 

This intellectual interest, implicit in the very nature of Chris- 
tianity, was powerfully reinforced by Protestantism. The Re- 
formers rejected external authority and substituted individual con- 
viction as the true bond of union between believers. They re- 
covered the Bible from the obscurity to which the mediaeval church 
had relegated it, and urged each believer to study it for himself. 
They were convinced that the central verities of Christian faith 
were so self-evident that it needed only contact with them to 
bring conviction; and they laid on the conscience of the believer 
the duty of that first-hand study of God's word which would give 
him an intelligent comprehension of its message. 

*Mr. Bryan's recent campaign against the teaching of evolution in our 
tax-supported institutions has brought unexpected confirmation of this fact. ^ 



142 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

So long as they were content to confine their emphasis to 
Ahe central truths of salvation, this attitude was largely justified. 
\The Reformation produced a group of Christians who to a re- 
markable degree knew what they believed and why. ; But as time 
went on and the adherents of the new way of thinking increased, 
differences began to appear. It became necessary to define the 
Church's position not simply with reference to the central verities of 
the Christian experience, but on matters of organization and gov- 
ernment which were in controversy between the Reformers and 
the Church of Rome. So Protestantism in its turn began to produce 
its written creeds which multiplied until they became a formidable 
library. Orthodoxy in the sense of uniformity of belief was insisted 
on; not for its own sake indeed (the most rigid Protestants never 
did this) but because it was believed to be the natural expression of 
that saving faith to which it was the Christian's supreme duty and 
privilege to bear witness. 

It is evident that to one trained to think of faith in this way 
the application of the methods of modern science to religion must 
present difiicult problems. It is not so much the actual changes 
of belief which are disturbing (though these are serious enough), 
but the change in temper of mind and in attitude of spirit. One 
of the most obvious effects of the scientific spirit has been to 
weaken the unquestioning acceptance of the authority of the Bible 
which, as we have seen, was one of the characteristic features of 
the older orthodoxy. This has not been confined to those who have 
definitely accepted the modern point of view. It is equally notice- 
able in the case of many who in theory reject it. It is not that 
they have ceased to believe what they believed before, but that 
the grounds on which they justify their belief have insensibly 
shifted. Where their fathers were content to rely upon the letter 
of Scripture, they welcome analogies derived from present-day 
experience, and when they speak of miracles they explain them 
as instances of the operation of a higher law not yet perfectly 
understood. 

If this is true of those who look upon the new movement with 
suspicion, or at least with indifference, the results upon those who 
accept its conclusions con amove have been far more revolution- 
ary. The new point of view when applied to religion has yielded 
changes as great as those in other realms of human knowledge. 



THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 143 

The Bible has been restudied as a human book, as the literature of 
a nation slowly ripening through centuries of experience. The his- 
tory of the Christian Church has been rewritten. The creeds, 
the theologies, the institutions of the Church have all been subjected 
to critical analysis and presented in new and constantly changing 
perspective. 

One whose youth was spent under the influence of this move- 
ment can remember the extraordinary interest and enthusiasm 
which it called forth. Criticism was studied as if it were a new 
Gospel, and the discovery that there were two Isaiahs, and that 
David did not write many of the psalms that bear his name, was 
welcomed as if it were a message of salvation to the people. Can- 
didates came before examining committees in the mood of martyrs 
anticipating execution, and the trial of Dr. Briggs for heresy by 
the Presbyterian General Assembly occupied scarcely less space 
in the daily press than was recently given to the battle between 
Carpentier and Dempsey for the championship of the prize ring. 

To-day we have discovered the limitations of criticism. After 
all, what does it matter whether there was one Isaiah or seven, 
whether the Bible occupied a thousand years in its writing or only 
a few hundred? What matters to us is the content of its teaching. 
What has it to say about God, man, and immortality? Is its wit- 
ness on these subjects still credible? Whatever Jesus Christ may 
have said or done in detail, has He a message which is still valid 
for us? Is he still to us Master, Saviour? Can we still see in Him 
the eternal God expressing Himself in human form? 

So theology passes into a new phase. Criticism is replaced 
by construction, science by philosophy. Beneath the differences 
in interpretation we detect permanent similarities of interest and 
our attempt now is to bring these to expression. The new theology 
—at first intent upon emphasizing its contrast to the old— is to- 
day interested in establishing its continuity with the past; in 
pointing out how, under new names, the old convictions survive, 
and the old faith is still confessed. , 

This change of attitude is made easier because of the central 
place held by religious experience in the theory of the older Prot- 
estantism. Faith to our fathers was not blind belief. It was the 
response of the soul to a revelation of the personal God conveyed, 
indeed, through external means, but manifesting itself in present 



144 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

experience. Their interest in having men think alike was due 
to their conviction that uniformity of belief was the natural ac- 
companiment of similarity of religious experience, but their con- 
cern was not for the belief as such, but for the experience it 
evidenced. So the new theology with its strong emphasis upon 
the primary importance of experience for belief finds a natural 
point of contact with the old. 

3. Negative Results — Disillusionment Resulting from the Dis- 
covery of the Limitations of Pure Science — Different 
Effects of This upon Different Groups 

Paralleling the new constructive interest in theology we find a 
clearer perception of the limitations of science. There was a time, 
not so long ago, when there seemed no limits to what men expected 
from science. It was hailed as the great deliverer, making possible 
by its inventions a better life for all the peoples of the world. 
''Only let us know enough," men said, ''and all will be well." 
Comte and Spencer were the prophets of the new Gospel. They 
urged us to put away theology and metaphysics and to get back 
to the facts of life. Let man reverence Mother Nature and 
master her laws and a new era would dawn for humanity. 

But to-day we are not so confident. What science has given 
us, as we now see, is an opportunity, but what we do with it 
depends upon ourselves. Power by itself is morally neutral. It 
may be used either for good or for evil. Science, which is only 
another name for knowledge, is power. Many questions it can 
answer for us. Undreamed-of resources it puts at our disposal. 
But when we turn to it for help in the great issues which divide 
the modern world it fails us. Only conscience can help us here. 
Henry Adams, in that remarkable work in which in so masterly 
a way he interprets to us the deeper experience of the last gen- 
eration,^ has given expression in classical form to this mood of 
disillusionment. 

This mood, already in evidence in many quarters, has been 

*"The Education of Henry Adams," 1918, cf. esp. pp. 486 sq. ''The idea 
that new force must be in itself a good is only an animal or vegetable in- 
stinct. As Nature developed her hidden energies they tended to become de- 
structive. Thought itself became tortured, suffering reluctantly, impatiently, 
painfully, the coercion of new methods." 



THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 145 

powerfully reinforced by the war. The war has revealed to us 
the gigantic power for evil which science has put into the hands 
of modern man. A gun that can shoot seventy miles, a boat that 
can navigate under the sea, an airplane that can fly a hundred 
miles an hour and carry poison gas enough to annihilate in a 
few hours a city full of men— these are some of the gifts that 
modern science has given us; these are some of the powers that it 
has put into our hands.^ What has the Church to say to such an 
ally? In what spirit shall it meet the bringer of these perilous 
gifts? 

Some Christians find that this revelation of the destructive 
power of modern science reinforces their conviction of its es- 
sentially irreligious character. In the practical effects of modern 
science, even more than in its theoretical affirmations, they see 
the natural result of infidelity. To them the remedy is a yet more 
rigid orthodoxy. Still sharper must the line be drawn between 
reason and revelation, humanitarianism and Christianity, the devil 
and God. In the spirit of the modern age they see Antichrist 
at work and science as his tool. The premillenarian has no hope 
for the world through any human instrumentality. He believes 
that the world must grow steadily worse until the great salvation 
of the last day when Christ — the number of His elect made up 
—shall descend in bodily presence to establish His kingdom on 
earth.2 

^ For a convenient summary of this aspect of the situation cf. Irwin, 'The 
Next War," New York, 1921 

"^ At the present time the churches in America are witnessing a revival of 
this militant premillenarianism. Appealing to the despondency and disillu- 
sionment caused by the Great War, its advocates challenge the entire concep- 
tion of Christianity as a Gospel of social salvation and declare the present 
order doomed to destruction both in church and state. They regard every 
attempt to redeem the present institutions of society as a form of apostasy 
and look for the speedy advent of Jesus Christ to establish His personal reign 
on the earth. With this belief in the literal fulfilment of Biblical prophecy 
they combine a distrust of the methods of science all along the line. They 
maintain schools in which many hundreds of pupils are being trained in this 
hteralistic interpretation of the Bible (e.g., the Bible Institutes at Chicago and 
Los Angeles), and by organized propaganda in.this country and on the mission 
field are trying to drive from the Church all who do not agree with them. This 
propaganda is especially active at the present time in the Northern Baptist 
Church (cf. the literature of the so-called Fundamentalists), but it is felt 
also in other churches. On the mission field, notably in China, it is a power- 
ful and disturbing factor. 



146 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Others receive solace by means of the mystical element in re- 
ligion. The destructive criticism of science has strengthened those 
churches which make the institution the bond of union rather 
than the creed. Such a church as the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
for example, which makes the sacrament the centre of religious 
worship, is less affected by the challenge of modern science than 
churches like the Presbyterian and the Congregational, which have 
always made much of doctrine. There is a symbolic element 
in the institution which appeals to feeling rather than reason, and 
which is therefore better able to stand the strain produced by the 
conflict of ideas. 

A third way of meeting the difficulty is found by those who 
would substitute conduct for belief as the basis of Christian unity. 
An organization like the Young Men's Christian Association, for 
example, which makes practical ministry its primary object and 
leaves to the churches to which its constituent members belong 
the responsibility for settling the vexed questions which the mod- 
em scientific movement has raised, finds many to respond to its 
appeal. In such work as the Association is doing for boys and 
young men is found an occupation which leaves little time for 
speculation. In this the Association is only giving clear expression 
to a tendency widespread in all the churches. If science puts into 
our hands undreamed-of powers, let us see that we use them rightly. 
If some men use them for evil, that is all the more reason why 
we should use them for good. 

One noticeable effect of the new situation for which we may 
be thankful is the breaking down of the arbitrary and artificial 
divisions which have separated Christians, and the creation of a 
new understanding between many who have hitherto held aloof 
from one another. We are learning that we can agree even while 
we differ, provided only that the things in which we agree are 
more important than the things in which we differ. A dozen 
years ago historians and critics could work together, but there 
was a deep-rooted suspicion that the only way to keep theologians 
at peace was to keep them apart. We have found out our mis- 
take. Every year groups of theological teachers meet for con- 
ference in their theological clubs and societies, and every two 
years representatives of the leading theological seminaries spend 



THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 147 

three days together in helpful discussion of their common problems 
and tasks. 

As a result we see the formation of new alignments correspond- 
ing more exactly to the real differences between men. Such is 
the difference between liberals and conservatives; the difference 
between those who believe in a thorough education for religious 
teachers and those who do not; above all, the difference between 
those who believe in a spiritual conception of the world and those 
who do not. In this new atmosphere of mutual understanding 
and sympathy it is possible to approach with greater hope of a 
successful result those more difficult and perplexing questions of 
definition which will later present themselves to us. 

4. Positive Results — the Contribution of the Scientific Movement 

to Religious Faith ^ 

But the effects of the modem scientific movement upon re- 
ligion have not been simply negative. In positive ways also sci- 
ence has a contribution to make to religious faith. 

For one thing the scientific approach to the study of religion 
is bringing new evidence to confirm the immemorial Christian con- 
tention that religion is a permanent human interest, not to be 
ignored or denied. As long as men believed that religion came 
to man from without, as a revelation from a world otherwise 
inaccessible to human reason, it might be possible to ignore it. 
But if man is religious by nature, one cannot be indifferent to 
what science may have to tell us of what religion has meant to 
man in the past and what it may do for him in the future. 

Again, the scientific study of religion is making clear the 
experimental basis of our faith in God. We see that the argu- 
ments we give to justify our belief are arguments after the fact. 
We must find God in our experience before we can reason about 
Him. Our arguments are only ways in which we translate into 
logical form what John Caird has well called "the unconscious 
logic of religion." ^ They remind us of the way in which we came 

^ Cf. W. Adams Brown, "Modern Theology and the Preaching of the Gos- 
pel," New York, 1914. 

' "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion," p. 133, New York, 1880. 
Cf. W. Adams Brown, "Why I Believe in God," Biblical World, September, 
1920. 



148 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

to believe in God. Or rather, it should be said, the different ways. 
For while one man rises from nature to God, another turns within 
and finds Him in the still small voice of conscience. To one man 
God speaks in solitude, and to another in the majestic appeal of 
some ancient institution. Personal need opens the door of religion 
to one, while the opportunity of service speaks to another the 
enfranchising word. William James showed himself a true man of 
science as well as a religious believer when he chose for the subject 
of his Gifford lecture "The Varieties of Religious Experience." ^ 

This reference to the varieties of religious experience calls atten- 
tion to another important contribution which modern science has 
been making to our knowledge of religion. It helps us to distinguish 
between religion as a permanent and universal human interest 
and the different forms in which from time to time it manifests 
itself. The study of comparative religion shows us how much all 
the greater religions have in common, how marked the contrast 
between the religious view of the world with its faith in meaning 
and goodness at the core of things and all philosophies that are 
atheistic and materialistic. Thus science works against denomina- 
tionalism and in favor of a catholic and unifying faith. 

But at the same time science shows us that there are perma- 
nent differences in the types of the religious experience and so 
gives denominationalism a relative justification. The difference 
between the Protestant and Catholic types of experience is a perma- 
nent difference, found in other religions besides the Christian, and 
mysticism, with its introspective and self-centred faith, is a very 
different thing from the practical religion of good works illustrated 
by the writer of the Epistle of James. By calling attention to such 
facts, modern science is forcing Christians to find a bond of union 
which at once underlies and transcends these differences and which 
expresses the distinctive character of Christianity in contrast to 
other religions, which, like it, are divided within themselves. 

This unifying principle is found in Jesus Christ, the founder of 
the Christian religion and the one whom all Christians agree in 
taking as their Master, their Saviour, and their Example. In 
Christ we find the vitalizing principle of Christian theology, the 
bond of union between those who in all else are separate, the figure 
^ New York, 1902. 



THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 149 

at once human and divine, who gives us at the same time our 
supreme revelation of God, our highest ideal for man, and our 
leader in the effort to realize this ideal in the life of individuals 
and of society. 

This rediscovery of Jesus carries with it a new emphasis upon 
the Kingdom of God as the social ideal which Jesus is seeking to 
realize in the world. We have seen how this ideal is being forced 
upon us by other influences growing out of the practical needs 
of the time. The new theology reinforces this emphasis by its 
study of the nature of the Christian religion as revealed to us in 
the life and teaching of its founder. It shows us that Jesus, deeply 
as He was concerned for the individual man, highly as He rated 
his value for God and his capacity for service, never conceived 
of him as an isolated individual. He was one of many sons, 
potential citizens in a society in which loving service was to be the 
law of all men's life. So science gives us a direct point of con- 
tact with the social and economic problems which the pressure 
of the time is forcing upon the attention of the Church. 

With this reference to the Kingdom of God we pass from 
the direct effect of modern science upon theological theory to its 
indirect result in changing the environment to which that theory 
must relate itself. We have seen that the social and economic 
changes of the day set the Church a distinctive problem. But these 
changes are themselves the result of the scientific movement. It 
is science with its discovery of the secrets of nature which has 
put into man's hands the powers which have made these changes 
possible. It is science with its invention of the steam-engine and 
the cotton-gin which has created the modern industrial system. 
It is science which has built our great cities and moved our popu- 
lation from continent to continent and which seems on the verge 
of discoveries which may make possible changes even more rev- 
olutionary. 

We shall speak in the following chapter of the problems which 
this change presents for our definition of the Church's function. 
We are now thinking only of its indirect effect upon the spirits of 
men. How has it affected the spiritual attitudes with which the 
Church is, primarily concerned? What effect, if any, is it likely 
to have upon the ideal of the Church as a teacher of religion? 



150 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

5. Consequences for the Church as a Teaching Body 

Two contrasted attitudes are taken by modern men toward the 
historic beliefs of the Christian Church. On the one hand, we 
find those who would discard them altogether/ either on the ground 
that belief is a negligible element in religion, or, if this be not true, 
that each new generation must formulate its own beliefs without 
reference to what has been done by the Church of the past. On the 
other hand, we find those who would reaffirm the ancient creeds 
in the literal sense and make acceptance of that sense the con- 
dition of church membership. It does not seem likely that either 
of these attitudes will permanently control. 

So far as the first position is concerned, we have already seen 
that belief is inseparable from experience and that to reject all 
creeds is to abandon the possibility of any effective concerted action. 
To say, as is so much the fashion at present, that we are to unite 
on our purposes rather than on our beliefs is an evasion of the 
issue. For purposes are themselves beliefs, differing from other be- 
liefs only in that they voice convictions which are capable of ex- 
pression in action. The choice is not between beliefs and no beliefs, 
but between beliefs imposed from without in the form of law as is 
the case in the Roman Catholic Church, and beliefs which express 
convictions freely formed in response to some appeal which verifies 
itself in experience. Protestants are convinced that Christian faith 
should be of the latter kind and for that reason must be reformu- 
lated from age to age in the light of enlarging experience. 

This does not mean that the older beliefs are to be regarded 
as valueless, any more than this is the case with similar beliefs in 
science, but only that they are to be included in a wider synthesis. 
The Ptolemaic astronomy was not proved false by the Copernican. 
It was only proved inadequate. It is true that to the man who 
stands on the earth the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. 
But Copernicus has shown us that there are other points of view 
from which one may contemplate the sun, and for these the 
Ptolemaic formula is no longer adequate. So the Christian creeds 
express truths in forms natural to the day in which they were 

*Cf. Drake, "Shall We Stand by the Church?" New York, 1320, pp. 125 sq.; 
Holmes, "New Churches for Old," New York, 1922, p. 232. 



/t' 



THE NEW INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 151 

given, but which need to be supplemented and corrected by the 
new experience and insight of later generations. 

Those who insist that the ancient creeds must be accepted in 
the literal sense in which they were held by those who formulated 
them are not therefore likely to be successful. Much which the 
old creeds tried to say about God and man and salvation we 
modern men believe and affirm, but we interpret the old affirma- 
tions in the light of a new universe and give the old words new 
and larger meaning. When we say that Christ is coming again to 
judge the world, our vision ranges not simply over the few decades 
spanned by the men who first put this phrase into the creed, but 
over the whole course of human history since then, and the state- 
ment to us expresses a larger faith and makes demands for new 
forms of consecration. We think of that coming as a spiritual 
process in which little by little the institutions of society as well 
as the lives of the men and women who live under them are to 
be conformed to the mind of Christ. So the old word about God 
as Maker of heaven and earth acquires a profounder significance 
in the light of our present understanding of the extent and dura- 
tion of the universe so described. We still read the fortieth chapter 
of Isaiah and the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, and find 
our faith expressed in what we read. But how immeasurably 
vaster the range and sweep of the vision to which modern science 
has opened our eyes. Christ is still to us the centre of human 
history, the Saviour for whom the world has been looking, but 
what the words mean science has helped us to understand as, apart 
from its teaching, we could never have known. 

If, then, we retain the old creeds it will be in a spirit of free- 
dom not possible to the men who formulated them. As each gen- 
eration writes its own commentaries on the Bible, and what is 
more important, lives them, so of the creeds. We shall reinterpret 
the old creeds and write new ones, each generation of us. The 
Social Ideals of the Churches ^ is an example in point. But they 
will not supersede but interpret the older words about the Saviour 
Christ, and His Kingdom. The living Spirit in whom we profess 
to believe will lead us into more truth as the Master promised, 
and we shall rejoice in this truth for ourselves, accept it gladly, 

' Cf . p. 89. 



152 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

and pass it on to our children, knowing well that for them, too, 
it will not be final, but that they will receive light from the same 
living Spirit and pass on the torch to their children. 

In assisting us to cultivate this spiritual attitude, science can 
help us most. The qualities which inspire science at its best are the 
qualities by which religion lives — faith, co-operation, service. Faith 
in the significance and consistency of nature, and in man's ability, 
if he persevere, to find his way to the truth; co-operation with all 
other seekers after truth in an enterprise in which success is given 
to no individual alone, but becomes possible only through the union 
of all; unselfish service rendered with no thought of fame or re- 
ward, but only to advance the cause: — these are qualities which 
are characteristic of religion at its best. Substitute for nature the 
unseen Spirit who inhabits nature, whom religion calls God; sub- 
stitute for co-operation in the world of thought the wider co-opera- 
tion which takes place in human activity in all its forms; sub- 
stitute for the service of truth for its own sake the service of the 
spiritual beings who live by the truth, and you will have a 
good description of the spirit of religion at its best. Without this 
spirit there can be no future for religion and no hope for mankind. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 

1. The Church's Stake in the New Social Order 

In our review of the effects of the modern scientific movement 
we have been interested, thus far, in the bearing of the movement 
upon individual faith. We have tried to discover what changes 
modern science has made in men's attitude to the beliefs and loyal- 
ties of the past; whether and how far they can still honestly use the 
old creeds, practise the old rites, and keep their place in the historic 
institution to which the Christian religion has given birth. But 
Christianity has never claimed to be simply a religion for individ- 
uals. It has always upheld an ideal for society. Side by side with 
His preaching of personal repentance, Jesus announced the coming 
of the Kingdom of God. In every age the Church has interpreted 
His message in its own way. The social aspects of the Gospel, 
which our individualistic Protestantism has too long overlooked or 
subordinated, are being forced again into the foreground by the 
changes which we have studied. We have considered the effect of 
these changes upon the character of our contemporary religious life. 
It is time to examine in more detail their relation to the function 
of the Church. What exactly is the Church's responsibility for the 
welfare of society as distinct from the individuals who compose it? 
In what sense and by what right may the Church speak with 
authority upon the political and economic issues which divide men? 

A year ago a car strike broke out in a Western city. It went 
through the usual course of such disputes. When the men went 
out strike-breakers were brought in. They were housed by the com- 
pany in places to which the strikers were denied access and sent to 
their work under armed guards. Ill-feeling was engendered and a 
riot occurred in which shots were fired and several persons were 
killed. After running on for weeks the strike was finally won by 
the company and many of the men lost their jobs and were obliged 
to leave the city in search of work in other places. Many of them. 

153 



154 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

had worked for the company for years.^ They were sober and re- 
spectable men, fathers of families, many of them owners of their 
own homes.2 A surprisingly large number, in view of the state- 
ments often made about the absence of the workingman from the 
Church, were members of the local churches.^ Yet they were obliged 
to leave home and church and go out to begin life over again with 
all the loss, religious as well as economic and personal, which that 
change involved. 

^ This familiar experience brings before us the most obvious 
point of contact between the Church and contemporary social ques- 
tions, and that is, the people in the churches. The minister must 
concern himself with economic and political questions not because 
he is interested in them for their own sake, but because the forces 
which operate in business and politics work out their practical con- 
sequences in the lives of the men and women in his congregation. 
We begin to see that the issues joined in the present industrial 
struggle are not simply material, but spiritual. Moral values are 
at stake— a man's right to self-determination and self-expression, 
the possibility of decent conditions in which to bring up his children, 
the assurance of just treatment in the partition of the fruits of com- 
mon toil. When under the leadership of the local Commission of 
Religious Forces a number of Denver ministers came together to 
study the causes of that strike and see if something could not be 
done to prevent the recurrence of similar social waste in the future, 
they were doing the plain duty which came to them in the course 
of their ministry as pastors.* 

What is true on a smaller scale of the communities affected by 
industrial strife is true of the nation as a whole in connection with 
the great upheaval of war. We have tried to describe the effect 
of that upheaval upon the religious life of the young men who were 
called from their homes to take part in this new and unprecedented 
experience, but what we were able to study was but the first chapter 
of an unfinished story. The sequel is only beginning to unfold 
itself in the spirit of inertia and suspicion which has spread like a 

^237 out of 412 had worked for the company more than five years; 174 
more than ten years; 71 more than twenty years. 

^345 were or had been married; 164 owned their own homes. 

^ 210 were church members. Others had less definite church relationship. 

' Cf. "The Denver Tramway Strike of 1920." Report by Edward T. Devine, 
Ph.D., Rev. John A. Ryan, D.D., John A. Lapp, LL.D., Denver, 1921. 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 155 

miasma all over the civilized world and which reaches down in a 
hundred ways into the lives of the individual men and women who 
make up our congregations. This affects the work of the Church 
in many ways. It creates an atmosphere of suspicion and strife 
which makes it difficult, if not impossible, for sincere Christians to 
live out their Christianity. The Christian religion teaches me that 
I ought to love my neighbor and wish him success; that I ought 
to further his welfare in every possible way and co-operate with him 
in helping others; but the conditions under which we are living to- 
day are often such as to make this practically impossible. When a 
strike takes place on the large scale in which strikes occur in modern 
industry, the first effect is to interrupt the direct relations between 
the parties to the dispute with all the possibilities of suspicion and 
misrepresentation which inevitably result. The ethics of peace give 
place to the ethics of war, and the first article of the ethics of war 
is that everything is right which helps my side to win. If human 
sympathy makes me feel for my enemy and want to help him 
rather than injure him, then steps must be taken to put a stop to that 
sympathy. If the knowledge that he has some right on his side 
weakens my will to win at any cost, then that knowledge must be 
suppressed. So we see side by side with the machinery for mobiliz- 
ing the economic and physical resources of the contestants a prop- 
aganda which is directed to securing unity of spirit, and this 
propaganda— not because of any deliberate choice on the part of 
those who engage in it, but by the inherent logic of the situation 
—operates with the motives of suspicion, fear, and hate. For the 
purpose of winning a temporary victory, those who conduct it at- 
tribute base motives to their opponents, not realizing that by doing 
so they imperil the foundations on which their own future peace 
must rest. 

It is no doubt true that individuals here and there manage to 
resist the contagion of their environment. Even in time of indus- 
trial strife they succeed in keeping alive that kindly human feeling 
which is the normal relation between man and man, just as there are 
soldiers who even in the most dreadful war never lose their sense of 
the common humanity which imites them with the enemy. The fact 
remains that it is immensely more difficult to do this in time of 
war than in time of peace, and that while war exists, industrial as 
well as international, the larger ministry of the Church is hampered 



156 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

and restricted in many ways. Were this situation permanently 
to continue, the Christian ideal of a world-wide brotherhood would 
be proved forever impracticable. 

But there is a more compelling reason which calls the Church to 
action. It is not simply that the existing situation makes it hard 
for Christian men to act out their Christianity, but that it threatens 
to rob them of their faith in God. A creed which cannot be lived 
cannot command whole-hearted assent. If, as we profess to believe, 
God be really like Jesus Christ, we should expect to find indications 
of this fact in the world that He has made. A Christlike God can 
express Himself completely only through a Christlike society. Un- 
less we believe, therefore, that such a society is possible— we may 
go further and say, unless we see evidence that such a society 
is actually in process of formation— our reason for believing that 
God is like Christ is correspondingly weakened. The greater the 
contradiction between our ideal and the real world, the greater the 
strain upon faith. Men reject faith not because they would not 
like to believe, but because the facts make faith difficult. They 
accept struggle, whether between individuals or nations, as the last 
word in human life because they see everyone else doing so. To 
hold our own against such influences we must be able to show 
that they do not account for all the facts; that side by side with 
the competitive element in human nature there is another element 
which seeks co-operation and fellowship, and that as between the 
two the second is the stronger and the more enduring. In a word, 
we must be able to show that Christianity is a practicable religion, 
not simply for individuals here and there, but for society as a 
whole.^ This is possible only as we leave the shelter of a purely 
individualistic religion and move out into the world of business 
and of politics. To keep God for myself I must be able to show 
that He can rule the world where my fellow-men are living. 

2. Principles which Determine the Nature and Limit of the 

Church's Social Responsibility 

If, however, we accept the principle that the Church has a re- 
sponsibility for social standards as well as for individual salvation, 
we must do so with our eyes open. Such acceptance opens the door 
to all kinds of difficulties. Some of them grow out of the inherent 
'Cf. W. Adams Brown, 'Is Christianity Practicable?", New York, 1916. 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 157 

complexity of the social situation. Where so many factors enter 
in, it is not easy to tell just where the Church's responsibility begins 
and where it ends. Even when we are clear on this point, we are 
only at the beginning of our troubles. It is one thing to realize that 
the present system of society is wrong; quite another to know how 
to remedy it. In matters of economic and industrial reform we 
find men equally sincere and equally learned differing on almost 
every point. Most puzzling of all are the problems which result 
from different stages of intellectual or spiritual development. All 
social action involves an element of compromise. In such matters 
as industrial and political reconstruction, many of the men with 
whom we must work do not share our premises, or, if they accept 
them, do not understand them as we do. 

In such a situation the only safety for the Christian is to con- 
fine his action strictly to the religious field. The Church's pro- 
nouncements on social and economic questions must be such and 
such only as grow out of the distinctive function of the Church as 
a religious institution, concerned primarily with motives and ideals. 
They must take their departure from Jesus' view of human person- 
ality and express His conception of the true relations of men in 
society. The unity they seek must be secured by free assent. The 
converts they win must be gained by the contagion of personality. 

It is important to keep these principles clearly in mind because 
so many good people in our day are tempted to forget them. Once 
admit that the Church has any responsibility for bettering the con- 
duct of society and you will find people who will hold it responsible 
for everything. Every fault in our present economic situation is 
attributed to the negligence of the Church. Every cause which de- 
serves support for any reason claims the right to appeal for the 
Church's endorsement. A new calendar threatens to supersede the 
Christian year, as Sunday after Sunday is appropriated by Boy 
Scouts, Mothers' Day, and the like. What is more serious, a per- 
sistent effort is made to secure the Church's approval of plans whose 
economic practicability is still to be demonstrated, or which are 
phrased in such vague and ambiguous terms as to invite misunder- 
standing. 

It is necessary, therefore, to remind ourselves of the dangers 
to which we are exposed by too hasty pronouncements. We can 
not distinguish too carefully between the central Christian principles 



V 



158 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

on which general agreement may be anticipated, and those matters 
of interpretation and application as to which honest men may differ. 
This reminder is especially necessary in the case of social service 
commissions and others who claim to speak for the Church as a 
whole. They will do well to remember that their utterances will 
carry weight in proportion as they grow inevitably out of the Chris- 
tian message, and convince the reason as well as the conscience of 
those to whom they are addressed. 

Even more formidable than the difficulties which are due to the 
limitations of our knowledge are those which grow out of differences 
of character. Not all people have reached the same point of moral 
development. Many reject the principles of the Gospel altogether. 
Others interpret them differently. We look forward to a time when 
these differences will be overcome and all men will honestly en- 
deavor to do what is right. But in our existing society this is 
not yet the case and the presence of these conflicting elements raises 
puzzling questions for the Christian conscience. Social progress is 
possible only through the co-operation of many different kinds of 
people. What shall we do when people refuse to co-operate or ask 
a price which we do not think it right to pay? 

These considerations bring us face to face with the age-long ques- 
tion of the relation of church and state. Our democratic institutions 
assume that the majority must rule. But this majority consists of 
many who are not Christians or who, if nominally Christians, do 
not accept the full logic of their profession. What shall we do 
then? Shall we acquiesce in the decision of the majority when that 
decision seems to us to contravene Christian principles? If not, 
how can we make our own convictions prevail? 

It will help us to find our way through these perplexing ques- 
tions if we remind ourselves of the views which have been held by 
our fellow-Christians in the past. 

Roman Catholics believe that both church and state are divine 
institutions, but with different functions and authority. The state 
is concerned with secular morality and enforces its decrees by 
physical force. Justice is its great word and law the agency through 
which justice finds expression. The Church, on the other hand, 
has to do with the higher morality of religion. It appeals to inner 
motives and makes love supreme. But this dualism is not final, 
for God has given the Church authority over the state. The 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 159 

state is an agent which the Church may use to promote the ends of 
religion, and by using this agent the Church may in effect employ 
force and enact law. It is the duty of every good Christian to 
obey the Church in all things, but the state so far and so far only 
as its acts accord with the teaching of the Church. In the exercise 
of its function as a teaching body the Church may from time to 
time pass judgment on the economic and political theories which 
affect the life of man in society and as a matter of fact does so 
frequently. When Rome has spoken it is the duty of all good 
Christians to obey her voice and to do what she commands. 

The older Protestant ethics took over the contrast between 
church and state, but rejected the Roman claim of authority on 
the part of the Church. Echoes of this claim lingered on in the 
Geneva of Calvin and the theocratic state of the older Puritanism. 
But the conscience that had broken with Rome would endure no 
lesser substitute, and with the rejection of the Church's authority 
m matters of politics the older method of affecting a reconciliation 
was abandoned. Some Protestants were content to assign to the 
state the lower sphere of civil justice— the justice of the natural 
and unregenerate man. Others, like the English Erastians, were 
mclmed to put the state in the supreme place once occupied by the 
Pope. On the whole, Protestantism has regarded obedience to the 
state as a religious duty, though recognizing that in times of crisis 
revolution may become necessary. Protestants and Catholics alike 
have failed to apply the full Christian standard to man's political 
relations, with the inevitable result in a dual standard of ethics. 

The German theologian of the last generation who gave most 
prominence to the social aspect of Christianity was Albrecht Ritschl. 
The Gospel of Christ, he taught, is an ellipse with two foci, of which 
one is redemption through Christ and the other the Kingdom of 
God. In his theology, therefore, if anywhere, one would expect 
to see the Christian ideal for society explained and applied. Yet 
when one turned to the section which dealt with the state and its 
duties,! one found a strange hiatus. The state, it seems, is an excep- 
tion to the operation of the principles which govern the life of the 
ordinary Christian. Unselfishness should be the law of the indi- 
vidual life. The state, on the other hand, must maintain the rights 

bv'sw ''t^^ %^'\ Christlichen Religion," Bonn, 1875. English translation 
by Swing, The Theology of Albrecht Ritschl," New York, 1901, pp. 171 sq. 



160 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of its own citizens against the aggression of others. While the state 
is never justified in the use of criminal means, it is yet not bound 
by the same rules which govern the Christian individual.^ In the 
sphere of politics, Christian principles do not apply. 

Stripped of the veil of pious phrases with which it often cloaks 
itself, the doctrine of Ritschl is the doctrine of the modern state , 
everywhere. The supreme attribute of the state is sovereignty, and 
since there is no super-state to which all others are subject, each 
nation is ethically justified in asserting its ow^n rights against others 
whenever it honestly believes them to be imperilled. Thus pre- 
paredness, in the sense of military armament, becomes the patriotic 
duty of every loyal citizen, and the possession of an army and navy 
strong enough to assert any rights to which the nation may reason- 
ably lay claim is the foundation-stone of foreign policy. 

Such an attitude, if accepted as a finality, is fundamentally 
unchristian. It overlooks the fact that nations, like the individuals ' • 
who compose them, are not isolated units, but members of a family 
of which God alone is sovereign. Isaiah pictures the ancient rivals, 
Egypt, Assyria, and Israel, as having the same Saviour and wor- 
shipping the same God.^ Jesus carries the thought farther in His 
teaching concerning the Kingdom of God. It is our duty as Chris- • 
tians to formulate a standard for society which shall be true to this 
ideal and to define our duty as patriots accordingly. 

Such a formulation is attempted by the radical Protestants who 
are known as pacifists. They not only believe that Jesus' principles 
are applicable to state as well as to church, but that they are ap- 
plicable now. They insist that Jesus has laid down a definite method 
by which His principles are to be applied, which, if practised 
by all Christians, would render possible the immediate realization 
of the Christian social ideal. In particular this method precludes 
the taking of human life for any purpose whatever. It outlaws 
war not only for the selfish purpose of moral aggrandizement or 
conquest, but even for self-defence and, what is still more difficult 

' "Unterricht in der Christlichen Religion," Bonn, 1875. English translation 
by Swing, ''The Theology of Albrecht Ritschl," New York, 1901, p. 246. 
"So long, however, as statecraft has to defend the rights of a people or a 
state against hostility from other nations, while it is never justified in the 
use of criminal means to this end, it is yet not bound by the same rules which 
hold for the legal and ethical action of the individual Christian in his relation, 
to the state and in intercourse with other men." 

=^ Isaiah xix, 23-25. 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 161 

to accept, in defence of others. The fact that the state has ap- 
proved a war cannot alter its essentially unchristian character. On 
so fundamental an issue the individual conscience must assert itself. 
To yield to the majority would be to deny the faith. 

We have referred to pacifism not to debate again the question 
whether it is ever right for the Christian to fight, but because it 
illustrates one of the possible views which Christians may hold 
in regard to social questions, the view, namely, that there is one 
particular method of social action which is applicable to all in- 
dividuals at all times. Such an opinion overlooks the fact that men 
. . grow in insight as they grow in experience. What is right for a 
man at one stage of his development may be wrong at another. 
Moreover, all social action requires some degree of compromise. 
In the realm of motive we face right and wrong in their purity. 
But when it comes to action, duty is far less simple than the 
catechism represents. Life does not always present us with a choice 
, between good and evil. Far more often we are required to choose 
between a greater and a lesser evil. 

The most familiar example of such a choice of evils is war. 
If war always represented the self-assertive, and peace the self<* 
sacrificing principle, one could confidentially require of the Christian 
that he be always a man of peace ; but in experience this proves not 
to be the case. To fight for oneself is one thing; to fight for 
others quite another; to fight as an assertion of the fundamental 
prmciples of liberty and justice, which refusal to fight would im- 
peril, another thing still. There is no doubt that to multitudes in 
the late war the issue presented itself in the latter form. War 
seemed to them so great an evil that it was hardly possible to 
conceive a greater. Yet a time had come when to refrain from 
fighting would involve them in a worse evil still, and so with a 
clear conscience they gave themselves to the service of their coun- 
try and believed that in so acting they were serving Christ as well 
What is true of war is true of all the lesser compromises of 
which social life is full. In our collective action our choice, we 
- repeat, is seldom between good and evil. Most frequently it is 
between a greater and a lesser good or a greater and a lesser evil 
Confronted with such an alternative, one must choose the course 
which, on the whole, comes closest to the Christian ideal and throw 
all one's strength against the evil which seems most seriously to 
conflict with it. ^ 



162 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

There are different spheres within which such compromises 
must be made. There are compromises rendered necessary by 
degrees of knowledge. There are others made inevitable by differ- 
ences of spirit. Some things we have to do because our fellows 
have not yet come to see what we see; others because they do not 
yet desire what we desire. But our reason in each case for doing 
what we do and refraining from doing what we leave undone 
should be that we believe that of the possible courses of action open 
to us, the one we choose will, on the whole, do most to hasten the 
time when all men will accept the Christian standard, and society 
as a whole in all its elements be perfectly conformed to the mind 
of Christ. 

These principles determine the relation of the Christian to law. 
In a democratic society, law is the instrument of social progress. 
It registers the average opinion of society. A change in the law 
is the most effective proof that the ideals of society are changing 
and the social conscience being educated. The Christian, there- 
fore, like all other good citizens, must see to it that so far as 
possible his ideals are embodied in the law; but he must be clear 
as to the significance of what he is doing. A law that is imposed 
by a majority on a minority may be a useful instrument in public 
education and a significant register of social progress; but from the 
Christian point of view it fails of success unless it becomes the free 
expression of the sincere conviction of those who live under it. 
Law, as the Apostle long ago perceived,^ is a schoolmaster to dis- 
cipline men for freedom; but the ideal is not realized until men 
choose freely what the law prescribes, and would do what it orders 
even if it were absent. 

We must distinguish, then, between the function of the Chris- 
tian as a citizen, helping to form the public opinion which deter- 
mines prevailing social standards, and his special responsibility for 
bringing men to accept the inner motives which are characteristic 
of the Gospel. Faith and love are the distinctive marks of the 
Christian social order, faith in the Father God who is planning 
all for His beneficent end, love for the human individuals who are 
progressively striving to realize His principles in the world. Where 
these are absent society cannot be Christian. Whatever helps to 
promote these is a legitimate object of social effort. 

* Gal. iii, 24. 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 163 

We have already pointed out three main aspects of our modern 
life in which we feel pressure for the social application of the Gospel 
—the conflict of race, the competition of industry, the rivalry of 
politics. In each we need to work out a method of procedure in 
which sincere Christians can unite. 

3. Illustration of these Principles in the Relation of 

the Church to Industry 

One of the publications of the Committee on the War and the 
Religious Outlook is a volume entitled, "The Church and Indus- 
trial Reconstruction." 1 It is an attempt to do in this particular 
sphere the thing which we have all agreed needs to be done; namely, 
to work out a mode of procedure in industrial matters which shall 
express the common convictions of enlightened modern Christians. 
The book is a product of more than two years' study by a repre- 
sentative interdenominational group. It may therefore be taken 
as a convenient guide for our present purpose. 

The book begins with an analysis of the principles which should 
determine the Christian attitude toward the industrial situation, 
the principles of personality, of brotherhood, and of service, which 
all Christians in theory accept. It paints the picture of what 
society would be like if these principles were everywhere lived up 
to, and men respected one another's personality, felt and acted 
toward one another as brothers and made the service of each by all, 
and of all by each, the general law. It contrasts with this picture 
the existing state of society and shows how this violates the law of 
personality, the law of brotherhood, and the law of service. Its 
authors then raise the question how far these violations are due to 
the system itself, how far to faults of character and insight on the 
part of the men who use the system. This leads to an analysis of 
what is meant by a social system, and the complicated ways in 
which systems rise and are modified. It appears that there is a wide 
field of agreement among students as to changes which are possible 
and desirable in the present system. There is a further field in 
which there is honest disagreement as to whether change would be 
for the better or the worse. In this latter field, the authors 
contend, the Church should proceed with caution, but where con- 

* Association Press, New York, 1920. 



164 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

ditions exist as to whose unchristian character all are agreed,^ it is 
not only the right but the duty of the Church to deal with these 
evils without delay. 

Having thus defined the Christian ideal, the book proceeds fur- 
ther to inquire how this ideal is to be realized. There are steps 
which can be taken now to realize the Christian social ideal, which 
indeed are being taken by more and more people. These the 
authors proceed to catalogue, illustrating the different methods 
which are being tried and the results which they have thus far 
yielded. After a further discussion of those more remote and far- 
reaching changes which must wait for the longer future, the book 
goes on to inquire what are the duties of individual Christians in 
their several capacities of employer, employee, investor, consumer, 
and citizen, and concludes with a consideration of the responsibility 
of the Church in its organized capacity to illustrate the Christian 
social ideal. 

More important than any specific conclusion reached in this 
volume is the method which it uses. It is the co-operative method. 
The book expresses the conclusions of a carefully chosen body 
of Christians representing different churches and types of social 
philosophy, who have come together with the sincere desire of dis- 
covering for themselves and interpreting to their fellow-Christians 
the teaching of the Gospel as to man's economic duties and relation- 
ships. The authors take their departure from the principles of the 
Christian religion and enter the field of industry at those points 
only where these principles seem clearly to be at stake. They at- 
tempt to separate the obvious Christian duties which all men 
of goodwill must recognize, and the disputed territory of theory in 
which men equally honest and sincere may differ. The effort is 
made to keep the discussion as concrete as possible, and the prin- 
ciples laid down and the duties enjoined are illustrated from 

' Note the difference between this point of view and that which finds expres- 
sion m the well-known phrase, ''the zone of agreement." This phrase fre- 
quently used to describe the attitude of the Young Men's Christian Associktion 
to disputed questions in industry, is ordinarily understood to mean that in 
any question at issue between an employer of labor and his employees the 
Association will refuse to take sides. The principle here formulated refers 
only to differences between Christians and states that as between those mat- 
ters as to whose wisdom there is general agreement and those more doubtful 
questions as to which Christians equally sincere and honest still differ prefer- 
ence should be given to the former. ' 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 165 

cases where these principles and duties have proved their prac- 
ticabihty by use. Finally, a clear distinction is made between the 
Christian ideal for society and the Christian way of realizing that 
ideal. 

For it cannot be insisted upon too often that there is not simply 
. a Christian ideal, but a Christian way of realizing this ideal, and 
it IS quite as important for us to know the latter as the former. 
There are some results which can be secured only in one way* 
and the Kingdom of God is one of these. Impressive and substan- 
tial as are its outward manifestations, it develops from within as 
the plant from the seed, as the leaven in the lump. It spreads 
by the contact of spirit with spirit. Outward change may smooth 
the way for its advent, but it is an inward experience. The King- 
dom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and 
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.^ 

It is one of the merits of the volume under review that the 
authors perceive this so clearly. Much as they are interested in 
finding out whither we ought to go, they are equally concerned to 
know how we are to get there. The answer they give is the old 
answer of religion from the beginning. We are to get there by 
trusting God, loving our brother, and overcoming the obstacles 
created by his ignorance or wilfulness in the only way in which such 
obstacles can ever be finally overcome, by the change which time 
brings in those who have been growing out of their old selves into 
better selves, under the influence of education in the truth. 

It is encouraging that so many realize this and are taking time 
for the study which is necessarj^ to overcome the difficulties in the 
way. In England this study has been carried further than here.^ 
But even in this country there are many persons who appreciate 
the importance of the subject and are giving it their best attention.^ 
*Rom. xiv, 17. 

J Cf ''Christianity and Industrial Problems," London, 1918 (Archbishops' 
Fifth Committee of Inquiry); ''Quakerism and Industry: Being the Full 
Kecord of a Conference of Employers, Chiefly Members of the Society of 
Friends, Darhngton 1918; Tawney, "The Sickness of an Acquisitive Society," 
i^ondon 1920 Cf. also the stimulating article by Mr. Seebohm Rowntree on 
tfie need of killing the war spirit in industry, Neu^ York Evening Post, Novem- 
ber 10, 1921. ' 

^ From recent correspondence with a well-known employer, the vice-presi- 
dent ot a large manufacturing company, the following is taken: 

A good many years' experience in business, employing large numbers of 
men, has impressed me that the chief obstacle in the way of remedying the 



166 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

The cordial welcome given to the bulletin of information issued by 
the Social Service Commission of the Federal Council ^ is an encour- 
aging indication of this awakening interest. The appearance of 
volumes like the Interchurch investigation of the steel strike,^ and 
the Report of the Denver Commission of Religious Forces on the 
street car strike ^ in that city is another. The increasing emphasis 
given to social questions in the classrooms of our theological 
seminaries is still another. 

What has been done so far, however, is only preliminary. The 
number of persons who are giving their attention to these questions 
needs to be vastly increased and the angles from which they ap- 
proach the subject multiplied. Group study should be undertaken 
not only by employers, but by workmen, and within each industry 
by the men who are familiar with its particular problems. Con- 
sumers and investors should study their special form of responsi- 
bility and all these studies should be unified by some central body 
interested in the larger aspects of the subject and bringing to bear 

evil is the almost universal failure of capital and labor to understand each 
other's difficulties and to get each other's point of view. They appear to be 
equally stupid, though it is only fair to labor to say that, as a rule, employers 
are much more difficult to teach than employees. In considering what can be 
done to make capital and labor less blind to each other's problems, I am 
impressed that before any real co-operation can be expected, there must be an 
awakening of the individual conscience, and a lessening of the spirit of intense 
commercialism. There is no greater power or influence for the accomplish- 
ment of both than the Church ; in fact, I doubt if there is any other influence 
than the Church which can do it, provided it goes about it in a way which 
appeals to both capital and labor. 

"There is no place, or ought not to be, where men should feel so free and 
willing to express themselves, to meet each other halfway, to agree upon defi- 
nite policies for mutual good, as in the Church." 

This letter is typical of many similar ones. Thus the president of a large 
insurance company, to whom the author had written expressing his apprecia- 
tion of his attitude in a certain industrial matter, writes: 'T believe and am 
convinced that the way out of our very serious difficulties to-day is in prac- 
ticing the principles which have been taught by the Christian Church for years, 

"In this instance I am merely trying to bring to bear one of those great 
principles, namely, the Brotherhood of Man." 

^ A bimonthly bulletin issued by the Research Department of the Commis- 
sion on the Church and Social Service. 

^Cf. Report on the Steel Strike of 1919 by the Commission of Inquiry of 
the Interchurch World Movement, 1920; Public Opinion and the Steel Strike 
of 1919: Supplementary Reports to the Commission of Inquiry, Interchurch 
World Movement, New York, 1921. 

' Cf . p. 154, note 4. 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 167 

upon the differences which arise the wider vision and impartial 
judgment which comes from the Christian view of life as a whole. 
To this subject we shall return again in another connection when we 
discuss the educational work of the Church in its larger aspects.^ 

4. Need of a Similar Application to the Questions oj Race 

and of Nationality 

What the volume on "The Church and Industrial Reconstruc- 
tion" endeavors to do for the subject of industrial relations, it is 
equally important to do for the vexed questions of race and of 
nationality. A short time ago a riot occurred in a Western city 
of more than 100,000 inhabitants in which more than fifty per- 
sons were killed, many more wounded, millions' worth of property 
destroyed, and ten thousand Negroes rendered homeless by the 
burning of the district in which they lived, while thousands of white 
men looked on without raising a hand to put out the flames and 
. * even threatened to shoot the members of the fire department if 
they attempted to save life or property. The occasion of this la- 
mentable occurrence was the complaint of a white woman elevator 
operator who had been inadvertently jostled by a Negro who 
stumbled as he was leaving the car. Behind this simple incident 
lay a long story of misunderstanding and neglect which had so 
strained the relations between the races that it needed only a 
spark to start a moral as well as a physical conflagration.^ 

What happened at Tulsa is a reminder of conditions which ob- 
tain in many parts of the country. We hear of particularly flagrant 
abuses, as when peonage leads to murder in Georgia, or some 
crime, real or suspected, leads to lynching in some hitherto peaceable 
community in the West or North. Of the causes that lie back of 
these outbreaks we know far too little. When a Southerner like 
Governor Dorsey risks misunderstanding and persecution by a 
bold statement of the facts we applaud his courage.^ . It seldom 
occurs to us that as members of the Christian Church we are equally 
responsible with him for seeing that these evils are abated and a 
more Christian relation between the races introduced. 

Yet surely no responsibility could be plainer. How can we 

*Cf. Chapters XIV, XVI. 

^Cf. Nation, June 15, 29, 1921; Survey, June 11, July 2, 1921. 

'Cf. New York Times, May 1, 1921. 



16S THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

preach brotherhood to Chinese and Japanese if we are unbrotherly 
to our own colored Americans? Some things we may not be able 
immediately to accomplish. On others we may honestly disagree. 
A few elementary matters we may surely take for granted. The 
Negro has a right to humane treatment, to a just trial before the 
law, to an opportunity to earn an honest living and have a decent 
home, to an education for his children and a sphere of self-expres- 
sion for himself. An obligation rests on us as Christians to find out 
wherein our present treatment of the Negro involves the denial of 
these elementary rights and to see what we can do to remedy the 
evil.^ 

What is true of the relation of the races in our own country 
is equally true of the relation of nations to one another. In this 
field full of difficulties and perplexities, there must be careful 
thinking if Christian principles are to prevail. That they can be 
made to prevail is clear from the widespread response to the first 
proposal of the League of Nations, and the equally marked revulsion 
of feeling which swept over the nation when it began to appear 
that the public sentiment of the different peoples was not yet ripe 
for a Christian solution and that there was danger that the League 
of Nations might become simply a device for enforcing the right 
of the victor over the vanquished. Surely there is some other and 
better way than that which has led the nations to this "Pentecost 
of Calamity." 

What we need, then, is a sober and careful study of the inter- 
national situation with a view to determining the sphere in which 
the moral influence of the Church should operate and how it is 
to be effectively brought to bear. In the midst of much on which 
we differ, we shall find some things on which we can agree. The 
first step toward the better international future to which we look 
forward is common action within the territory of agreement. Out 
of the habit of working together will grow confidence in one another, 
and each step forward will point the way to the next. 

'An encouraging beginning has been made through the creation of the 
l^ederal Council's Commission on the Church and Race Relations, a repre- 
sentative group of men and women of both races and different ecclesiastical 
and geographical connection. 

In this connection reference should be made to the excellent work done 
by the Inter-Racial Commissions functioning in many Southern communi- 
ties, as well as by the University Commission on Race Relations. 



1 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 169 

5. Consequences for the Social Mission of the Church 

The foregoing discussion will help us to define more clearly 
the nature and limits of the Church's social responsibility. This 
responsibility is fourfold. The churches are responsible (1) for 
keeping the Christian ideal for society constantly before men's 
minds; (2) for producing men and women who in their several 
spheres of activity apply Christian principles to social relations, 
thus increasing the evidence that Christianity is socially practica- 
ble; (3) for keeping people informed of what is being done in the 
social application of Christianity, and so helping to create a public 
opinion which will make it possible to Christianize all our institu- 
tions; (4) and in the meantime, while the process is still incomplete, 
for conducting their affairs in such a way as to give a convincing 
demonstration that a Christian institution is possible. 

(a) All four of these are important, but the first, under the 
conditions of our modern life, is all important. The most serious 
of all the obstacles to realizing the Christian ideal for society is 
the fact thiat so many, even among professing Christians, have not 
yet accepted it as an ideal. 

What would society be like if Jesus could have His way? Let 
the authors of the volume on "The Church and Industrial Recon- 
struction" answer for us. 

"It would be a co-operative social order in which the sacredness 
of every life was recognized and everyone found opportunity for the 
fullest self-expression of which he was capable; in which each indi- 
vidual gave himself gladly and whole-heartedly for ends that are 
socially valuable; in which the impulses to service and to creative 
action would be stronger than the acquisitive impulses, and all 
work be seen in terms of its spiritual significance as making possible 
fulness of life for all men ; in which differences of talents and capac- 
ity meant proportional responsibilities and ministry to the common 
good; in which all lesser differences of race, of nation, and of class 
served to minister to the richness of an all-inclusive brotherhood; 
in which there. hovered over all a sense of the reality of the Christ- 
like God, so that worship inspired service, as service expressed 
brotherhood." ^ 

'Pp. 31, 32. 



170 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

The acceptance of such an ideal does not require the surrender 
of the related ideals of patriotism, or of race or class loyalty, any 
more than the acceptance of these supersede the primary duty 
of each man to his own family and his own individuality. I do 
not love wife or children less because I love my country. I am 
not less conscious of my duty to develop my personality to its fullest 
capacity because I respect my friends and rejoice in their happiness 
and success. As each social unit is made up of lesser units, each 
of which in turn has its independent life and value, so society as a 
whole is made up of smaller social groups whose welfare and prog- 
ress contribute to the success of the whole. As the welfare of each 
individual is essential to the well-being of the family, so the pros- 
perity of each nation is essential to the progress of mankind. In 
the foreign-missionary enterprise we have recognized this in prin- 
ciple. It remains to draw the consequences for our political and 
economic life. We must take the general principles of the Gospel- 
principles to which all Christians would assent in the abstract— 
and translate them into such concrete terms as hours and wages, 
tariffs and immigration acts, the protection of women and children, 
the right of workers to organize for their own advancement, and 
their interest in the product of the industry of which they are a part. 
(b) Words alone are not enough. Unless the witness of Chris- 
tians is translated into terms of human life, the Church will find 
scant hearing for its social message. Men and women must be 
found who in their several spheres will apply Christian principles 
to their relations to their fellows and so make their contribution to 
the proof that Christianity is socially practicable. 

There is nothing new in this. It is only the repetition under 
modern conditions of the demand for personal consecration and 
discipleship which has always been characteristic of Christianity. 
What is new is the environment in which this ministry must be 
rendered. In the mass production of modern industry the indi- 
vidual has been lost in the machine. Direct contact between em- 
ployer and employee is no longer possible. More and more, human 
beings tend to be looked upon as the raw material of production, 
like pig-iron or coal. They have become hands on the lever, num- 
bers in the balance-sheet. The Church must help to restore them 
to their true status as human beings with spiritual aspirations and 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER 171 

ideals. What Jesus said to His first disciples, "Come ye after me, 
and I will make you to become fishers of men," ^ we must repeat 
to-day. But the method by which we must reach the men we are 
seeking has become infinitely more complex than it was in Jesus' 
day. Often it is no longer possible for one individual directly to 
touch another. If he is to be reached at all, he must be reached 
through others. All our relationships must be organized in such a 
way that the human significance of what we do shall appear at 
each stage of the process. For this there must be intelligent co- 
operation on a world-wide scale. 

(c) This suggests a third responsibility of the Church; namely, 
its responsibility for forming a Christian public opinion. The 
Church must inspire in its own members a desire to apply Christian 
principles to the part of life they can control. It must be able 
to point to particular groups who are living in the Spirit of Christ 
and proving in their own experience that His ideal is a practicable 
ideal. But this alone is not enough. These isolated individuals 
must be related to one another, these independent experiences cor- 
related and interpreted. The lessons learned by the few must be 
shared by the many, and a public opinion be formed which in time 
will make it possible to Christianize all human relationships. 

As a force for the formation of public opinion, the American 
Protestant churches command resources of which they have scarcely 
begun to realize the magnitude. The case of prohibition reminds 
us of what can be done by the churches when they are alive and 
organized. Prohibition, however, deals with but a single evil. Once 
let the churches realize their responsibility for the greater causes 
of which we have been speaking, the cause of social justice and of 
international brotherhood, and there is no limit to what they may 
hope to accomplish. 

(d) Whatever may be true of social institutions in general, 
there is one sphere in which it would seem as if the Christian social 
ideal could at once be completely realized. That is in the Church 
itself. The Church is an epitome of human society. Like the state, 
it is a government with laws and officers to enforce them, and it 
faces in principle all the problems of government. Like Big Busi- 
ness, it is an owner of property, and an employer of labor on a 
colossal scale. Like the nation, it includes men of every race, but 
' Mark i, 17. 



172 . THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

unlike the nation it is itself an international society. In the Church, 
then, we have an experiment station in which we may test the social 
practicability of the Gospel, Where can we find a better oppor- 
tunity to put our principles to the proof? ^ 

Yet, as a matter of fact, the demonstration which the Church 
might give has not yet been given. Institutional Christianity is 
itself only in part Christian. The Church, like the society of which 
it is a part, is the scene of compromise and limitation. Instead 
of being an argument for, it is often an argument against, the prac- 
ticability of the Gospel. How often we hear men saying, "I could 
be a Christian if it were -not for the Church." Must this condition 
of things continue? If not, what is the remedy? 

^Cf. W. Adams Brown, "Can We Keep the Church Christian?" Christian 
Century, June 2, 1921. 






CHAPTER X 

THE CHURCH AS SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND AS ECCLESIASTICAL 

INSTITUTION 

1. Possible Attitudes Toward the Divisions of Christendom — The 
Movement for Church Unity and the Questions of 

Principle It Raises 

A STUDY of the responsibility of the Church for the social appli- 
cation of the Gospel brings us face to face with a new question; 
namely, what we mean by the Church and how it is to function. 

At first sight there seems to be no such thing as the Church, but 
churches, partly independent, partly rivals, often working at cross- 
purposes, always more or less ineffective, illustrating in their own 
life and conduct all those phenomena of hesitation and compromise 
which we have seen to be characteristic of the life of men in society. 
Granting that we can solve our theoretical problems, that we see 
clearly what the Church ought to be and to do, how can we bring 
this standard to bear upon the existing churches? 

To this question the Roman Catholic Church has a definite 
answer. The reason for the weakness of the Church lies in its 
divisions. By human wilfulness and frailty men have transformed 
a divine institution into a group of human experiment stations, and 
with the transformation have sacrificed the authority and majesty 
which is the distinctive attribute of the true Church. For this evil 
there is but one remedy— repentance and amendment. The schis- 
matic bodies should confess their error and return to their original 
allegiance. They should acknowledge the supremacy of Peter, 
and accept his leadership. Then, the wounds of Christendom 
healed, the Church would be once more revealed in its divine ideal, 
and would reassume the spiritual leadership which is its divine 
prerogative. 

It is a solution as appealing as it is simple, if it were not for 
one awkward and incontrovertible fact — the presence of other 
churches, as conscious of their divine prerogatives as Rome, which 

173 



174 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

question her authority and compete for the right to rule over their 
fellow-Christians with a confidence as unshaken as hers. The 
Greek Orthodox Church regards Rome herself as schismatic and 
heretical. The rival sects of Protestantism may differ in many 
things; they share the conviction that they have preserved the 
pure and unadulterated Gospel from the corruption of Rome. 

A further difficulty with the Roman solution is the inability of 
the churches that adopt it to show any such monopoly of the Chris- 
tian virtues as would seem to justify their claim. If the reason 
we require an infallible Church is that it is our only means of 
delivery from the effects of human sin and ignorance, then we should 
expect to find the Church which possesses this unique revelation il- 
lustrating in an exceptional degree the Christian qualities which 
divine revelation was designed to produce ; but no such demonstra- 
tion can be given. In the court of morals no church can lay claim 
to a monopoly of the virtues, nor can all the churches together 
deny to those outside some share at least in the faith and love 
which are the choicest possessions of the Christian. The Church, as 
Roman theologians have long ago clearly perceived, is a corpus 
permixtum—mduding in its membership good and evil, saint and 
sinner. Like every human institution, it depends for its success 
upon the men and women who administer it, and these— in the 
Church as in the state— are fallible and sinful.^ Dante, good 
Catholic as he was, found room for more than one Pope in hell. 
Harnack, from the Protestant side, has summed up his view of the 
situation in the pregnant sentence: "Where there is a church, there 
is always a little bit of the world!" 

Confronted with these facts, the extreme liberals discard alto- 
gether the idea of one outward visible church. They believe that 
the true Church, the Church of the New Testament, is an invisible 
and spiritual thing. It is the fellowship of believers, the company 
of all the men and women who share Christ's ideal and are working 
for His ends. This society has no fixed limits. It is not confined 
to any ecclesiastical organization, nor to all of them together. It 
is like the spirit in the human body— an inward presence, felt 

* The only exception which is admitted by the Roman Church is the Pope, 
and then only when he speaks ex cathedra; that is, "when in discharge of the 
office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic 
authority he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals, to be held by the 
universal church."— Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council, Chapter IV. 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 175 

rather than seen, known by its effects but not exhausted by them, 
it is therefore a waste of breath to talk of outward unity. Whether 
there be one Church or a hundred matters little, provided that the 
ideals for which the churches stand find expression in consecrated 
human lives. 

There are two reasons why this view of the Church is unsatis- 
factory. In the first place, it overlooks the fact that outward or- 
ganization seems to be the inevitable consequence of spiritual unity. 
In the second place, it is blind to the equally obvious fact that in- 
effective organization produces unfortunate spiritual results. 

We have already seen illustrations of this truth in connection 
with the labor movement. At heart the labor movement is a spir- 
itual movement, embodying men's desire for self-expression and self- 
realization. But this desire is impotent unless it can create instru- 
mentalities through which to function. So we see the growth of 
labor unions, and their association in the Federation of Labor, and 
the formation of Socialist clubs, and their incorporation in indepen- 
dent political parties, not arbitrarily or because of the selfishness 
and wilfulness of individual leaders, but by an inner necessity grow- 
ing out of the nature of the movement itself. 

As the labor movement illustrates the necessity of organization, 
so it teaches us the danger which may spring from organization of 
the wrong kind. Where workmen and employers — fellow-workers 
in the same industry — have no common organization through which 
that unity can find expression, suspicion and misunderstanding are 
inevitable. The natural desire of each group to advance its own 
interests develops easily into a doctrine of class antagonism. The 
belief in the essential incompatibility of interests as between labor 
and capital, and other teachings which foster suspicion and distrust 
between men could not gain the power they have if they were not 
systematically inculcated by persons who speak with the prestige 
which official position gives them.^ On the other hand, employers' 
associations, formed for the legitimate purpose of mutual informa- 
tion and helpfulness, may become agents in promoting social sus- 
picion and ill-will, and their deliverances, by their impersonal char- 
acter, may have weight and influence which no individual utterance 
could carry. What we need is an organization in which both em- 
ployers and workers are represented, which can approach the points 

*Cf. The Constitution of the I. W. W. already cited, p. 38. 



176 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

in dispute between the parties from the standpoint of the welfare 
of the industry as a whole.^ As it is, the inherent difficulties of the 
situation are aggravated by the machinery designed to deal with 
them. What should be a help in bringing minds together proves 
often an agency for keeping them apart. 

From this situation there is but one way of escape— better or- 
ganization. To dispense with organization is the most futile of all 
remedies for social ills; for organization is of the very essence of 
life in society. The only way to correct the evils of organization is 
to devise better methods of organization. The one sure remedy for 
a bad institution is a good one. 

An illustration in point is the present international situation. 
Why is it that it is so much easier to stir up ill-will between the 
nations than to bring them together for mutual helpfulness? The 
answer is obvious— because our political machinery is planned for 
the first purpose, and not for the second. We have constructed 
the state on the hypothesis that all other states are its natural 
enemies, and when we try to bring states together for other pur- 
poses than self-protection, the old associations are too powerful to 
be overcome. We must not only see that the methods we have 
been following are wrong, we must not only produce a powerful 
body of sentiment favoring conciliation and peace; we must create 
the machinery through which this sentiment can function. We must 

* Among the many proposals that are being brought forward for the settle- 
ment of industrial disputes, that offered by the Denver Trades and Labor 
Assembly is especially interesting. The resolution embodying it is as follows: 

"Whereas, capital and labor are rapidly drifting toward a condition of 
industrial warfare which will be disastrous to the general welfare of America, 
and 

"Whereas, we believe that it is the duty of men to reason together rather 
than to blindly seek selfish advantage, and 

"Whereas, labor is willing to rest its case upon the application of the 
Golden Rule and the teachings of the Carpenter of Nazareth ; therefore 

"Be it Resolved, That we, the Trades and Labor Assembly of Denver, 
invite the employers of Denver to appoint a committee of six members to 
meet with a like number representing the Trades and Labor Assembly and the 
Building Trades Council, to form a Good Will Council. This body shall 
select a thirteenth member by mutual agreement to be the presiding officer. 
We suggest that this 'Good Will Council' meet every two weeks. To this 
body any industrial dispute or difficulty may be referred." 

The Ministerial Alliance of Denver urged the employers to accept the 
proposal and it is now reported that they have appointed their representatives. 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 177 

replace the old divisive institutions which have brought civilization 
to this lamentable pass with new institutions, international in char- 
acter, whose avowed aim is unity .^ 

This insight is the driving spirit in the movement for Christian 
unity which is so much in evidence in our day. We realize that our 
kindly feelings toward our fellow-Christians, to be effective, must 
express themselves in action. And that means that we must organ- 
ize. When Rome threatened spiritual liberty, it was necessary to 
assert the right of the free spirit to break with the past, just as it 
was politically necessary for our fathers, a century and a half ago, 
to assert the right to break with the mother country. New occasions 
teach new duties. Our need to-day is of unity quite as much as of 
freedom. But unity, in church and state alike, can find expression 
only through organization. 

The present movement for unity takes two forms: that for 
organic and that for federal unity. The former takes its departure 
from the nature of the Church, the latter from the need of the 
world. The movement for organic unity seeks, through a study of 
the nature and function of the Church as revealed in its foundation 
and history, to find some way through which the separated bodies 
of Christians can be brought together in a single visible and cor- 
porate body. The movement for federal unity, on the other hand, 
tries, through a study of the present tasks of the Church, to find 
a way in which the different denominations which are addressing 
themselves to these tasks separately may be associated in some co- 
operative movement which shall pool their resources and give them 
the authority and spiritual power which they lack when separated. 
The two are not necessarily inconsistent. Federal union may be a 
step toward organic union. Organic union when it comes, in church 
as in state, may prove to be federal.^ 

The chief differences which must be adjusted in any attempt to 
secure union, whether organic or federal, concern four points: (1) 
the significance of the institution for religion; (2) the extent of free- 

* More important than any decision which the new Court of International 
Justice at the Hague may render, is the mere fact that it exists. 

' On the meaning of the terms Federal and Organic Union and the possible 
relations between them, cf. W. Adams Brown, "How We May Unite," Con- 
structive Quarterly, June, 1921; cf. also "Christian Unity: Its Principles and 
Possibilities," pp. 8-12. 



178 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

dom and variety possible within it; (3) the form of organization 
most to be desired ; (4) the means of securing the agreement neces- 
sary to bring about the desired results. 

2. Different Views of the Significance of the Church 

as an Institution 

Fundamental among the differences between Christians is the 
difference in their view of the significance of the Church as an insti- 
tution and its relation to the society of free personalities which it 
serves. The high churchman of every school views that relation 
as fundamental. It is the institution rather than the persons who 
compose it which is the channel of divine revelation. The institu- 
tion, therefore, precedes and makes possible the spiritual society. 

Those who take this view do not deny the difference to which 
we have already referred between the ecclesiastical organization and 
the spiritual society of which it is the servant and expression; but 
they regard the former as antecedent to the latter. They believe 
that it is antecedent in time. Christ founded His Church as an insti- 
tution in order that He might bring into existence His Church as a 
spiritual society. They believe that it is antecedent also in impor- 
tance. Without the institution, the society of persons could not be ; 
for to it Christ has committed that truth and grace which alone 
enable it to function effectively in His name. Thus the high 
churchman finds that everything depends upon the right organiza- 
tion. Apostolic succession does not seem, to the high Anglican, 
simply a matter of ancient order or of ecclesiastical expediency. It 
is the condition of the existence of the Church ; for without it the 
grace which makes a valid sacrament could not be conferred. 

We have said that this view is common to high churchmen ^ of 
every school. Anglo-Catholics share it with Roman Catholics. It 
explains an exclusiveness which many Christians of other schools 
find it hard to understand. The high churchman does not regard 
the business of securing unity as a matter of bringing equals 
together. He sees in it the recall of prodigals to their Father's 
house. 



1 «i 



'High churchman" is used here in a restricted sense to denote those who 
hold a view of the Church which excludes all Christians who do not accept 
their definition of what the Church is. The term is often used in a broader 
sense to include all Christians who have a high sense of the value of institu- 
tional Christianity. 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 179 

This spirit of uncompromising devotion to the institution is 
found among many who would deny it in theory. High church 
Presbyterians and Lutherans consider the Bible and not the Church 
as the pillar and ground of the truth, or rather the Gospel which 
the Bible enshrines. But since that Gospel is embodied in definite 
creeds and these creeds are made the test of orthodoxy (in practice 
at least, whatever may be true in theory) the ultimate outcome is 
the same. In each case loyalty to the truth is identified with 
loyalty to a certain institution. In each case compromise with 
other bodies would involve betrayal of a divine trust. In each 
case, therefore, the representatives of this view meet any proposal of 
unity which does not involve the complete acceptance of their terms 
with a "Non possumus." 

The difiiculty with this position is that it gets us nowhere. 
The claims of other churchmen equally confident of the right of 
. their position are met in the spirit of absolute denial. Its analogue 
in politics is the German theory of the state. As state stood over 
against state in the uncompromising affirmation of sovereignty, so 
church stands over against church. From this impasse there are 
only two possible ways out— the appeal to force and the appeal to 
reason. The appeal to force we have abandoned with the Inquisi- 
tion, and with the cessation of wars of religion. Even in the days 
when it was practised it was futile. At most it could induce out- 
ward conformity, not change of heart. So there seems no way out 
for modern men but the appeal to reason. If the churches are 
ever to come together it must be in some such way as this. 

By the appeal to reason, we do not, of course, mean the belief that 
arguments as such can ever produce agreement among Christians. 
Religion concerns more than the mind, and makes its appeal to 
feeling and will as well as thought. We use reason in the compre- 
hensive sense of the term to include all the activities of the free spirit 
as it reacts to its environment and builds up the edifice of convic- 
tion out of the experiences which have come to it through its con- 
tacts with reality. This is the sense in which our Protestant 
forefathers understood it when they claimed the right of private 
judgment against Rome and included among the cardinal loyalties 
which none could deny without betrayal of trust the freedom of 
conscience for the sake of which they had broken away from the 
mother church. 



180 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

The low churchmen, accordingly, are searching for unity through 
the consensus of Christian experience. If each man seeks God sin- 
cerely in his own way, he will find many joining him in his quest; 
for God, who is truth itself, cannot be inconsistent with Himself, 
and what one man learns of Him through his personal experience 
of salvation will be paralleled in the history of every other man who 
has passed through a similar experience. If freedom be given full 
scope, it would seem, then, that unity must follow in due time. 

Yet the results which have thus far followed from the applica- 
tion of this method of free experiment might well discourage its 
advocates. High churchmen rest their case against it on the divi- 
sions of Protestantism. They tell us that the private judgment to 
which liberals so confidently appeal has rent Christendom into a 
hundred warring sects and divided each of them into different 
schools of opinion. It has no final authoritative court of appeal. 
It is impotent to give the certainty for which the human heart 
craves. In a word, it represents the bankruptcy of religion. When 
one looks at the situation of Protestantism to-day, one feels that 
there is much to be said for the high churchman's point of view. 

It may prove, however, that the trouble is not so much with 
the method as with the way in which it has been used, and above 
all with the anticipations which have been entertained concerning 
it. The old ideal of uniformity dies hard, and the Reformers who 
broke with Rome in their theory of the way revelation came, pre- 
served the assumption of the older Church as to the marks by which 
it was to be recognized. That God should speak to different people 
in different ways, that a man might reject their conception of truth 
and yet be in the way of salvation, seemed to our fathers difficult 
if not impossible to believe. The divisions of Protestantism were 
the inevitable result of the attempt to secure complete agreement on 
the basis of freedom. Each variation of opinion required a new 
organization, because it could not find the liberty it required in the 
old. 

From the difficulties of this situation the historical spirit helps 
to deliver us. It shows us that the causes which gave birth to the 
Protestant churches were entirely natural and inevitable. Some of 
them were the expression of different ideals of the religious life, 
ideals which have persisted to this day and have present significance 
for us. Some of them, like the great organization which Wesley 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 181 

founded, came into existence because definite tasks needed to be 
performed. Still others owe their perpetuation to differences of 
tradition or sentiment, loyalty to some leader, or response to some 
aesthetic value rooted in the past. These differences have not the 
momentous and necessarily divisive effect our fathers thought they 
had ; but they are not purely arbitrary or negligible. Some of them 
have served a useful purpose in the past; others still serve such a 
purpose to-day. 

We may learn a lesson here from the Roman Catholic Church. 
We think of the Roman Catholic Church as realizing in a high 
degree its ideal of unity; but it is unity in variety. In Catholicism, 
too, different types of religious experience are found, and theologians 
differ as to the correct interpretation of doctrine. Nor are these dif- 
ferences merely private and academic. They have embodied them- 
selves in institutions with a long history and powerful organiza- 
tion. What the different denominations are to Protestantism, the 
rival orders are to Roman Catholicism. The struggle for power 
between the Franciscan and the Dominican, and later between the 
Society of Jesus and the older orders, fills many a page of church 
history. So generally recognized is the fact of difference that it has 
found expression in official Roman Catholic theology in the distinc- 
tion between the religious and the secular life. The saint is held 
to a higher standard than the ordinary Christian and may be granted 
exemption from the ordinary means of grace upon which less ad- 
vanced Christians must rely for their salvation.^ 

In the light of these facts the older ideal of uniformity is being 
generally abandoned by thoughtful Christians. The unity now 
sought is a unity which makes room for difference. The surrender 

^It was not an easy task to bring the different Protestant organizations 
together in the General War-Time Commission of the Churches. But if we 
have been correctly informed, it was no less difficult to reconcile the different 
interests which co-operated in the National Catholic War Council. Cf. Wil- 
liams, "American Catholics in the War," p. 114. "Despite the contrary opinion 
held by so many non-Catholics, the fact remains that there are no more 
convinced and at times stubborn individualists than Catholics. The idea that 
they comprise a vast, compact organization, which can be set in motion at a 
touch from authority, the impulsion of the central will operating efficiently 
and immediately through the bishops and the priests, is true only and solely 
in purely spiritual matters — in the region of the defined dogmas of the Faith. 
In all other concerns, and in all questions of methods, Catholics, and in par- 
ticular the Catholics of the United States, constitute a very large aggregation 
of separate schools of thought and types of action." 



182 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of the convictions which any group of Christians hold sincerely is 
not asked, nor the repudiation of a past laden with sacred memories, 
rather the inclusion of these treasures in a larger unity. "The 
philosophers of religion," once said a great philosopher, "have all 
been right in their affirmations. Their error has lain in their 
denials." We are coming to see that this may be true of the Chris- 
tian denominations. 

3. Different Views of the Limits of Legitimate Variation 

within the Church 

How shall we determine the extent of legitimate difference? 
Can it include the existing denominations or must they give way 
to other forms of Christian organization? Or shall we retain some 
and suppress others, and if so, which? These questions introduce 
us into the very heart of the present debate concerning church 
unity. 

Formidable difficulties meet us in every phase of the Church's 
work — in its doctrine, in its organization, in its mode of worship. 
Recent proposals for church union have tried to reduce the range of 
debate by specifying certain irreducible minima which may be taken 
as the basis of further discussion. Thus the well-known Lambeth 
quadrilateral specified the Apostles' and the Nicene creeds as the 
irreducible minimum in the field of doctrine; the two sacraments 
with the words of institution in the field of worship ; and the historic 
Episcopate in the field of organization.^ Unitarians would reject 
the second as committing them to the doctrine of the Trinity. The 
stricter Baptists would be dissatisfied with the third as not exclud- 
ing infant baptism or insisting upon immersion as the only valid 
form of this ordinance; while most Protestant Christians, especially 

*"I. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as 'containing 
all things necessary to salvation,' and as being the rule and ultimate standard 
of Faith. 

"II. The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol ; and the Nicene Creed, 
as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith. 

"III. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself — Baptism and the 
Supper of the Lord — ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of insti- 
tution, and of the elements ordained by Him. 

"IV. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its admin- 
istration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into 
the unity of His Church." 

Quoted in Manning, "The Call to Unity," New York, 1920, p. 123. 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 183 

those of Congregational or independent antecedents, would object 
to the fourth as unduly limiting the form of the Church's organiza- 
tion and above all as denying the title of church to bodies of 
Christians not episcopally organized, although they have shown in 
their history and experience all the marks of the presence of God's 
Spirit. The Disciples on their part would reject all three conditions 
as adding man-made requirements to the sole condition of church 
"membership properly to be required of the Christian; namely, the 
acceptance of the Bible, as interpreted by the individual conscience, 
as the final and sufficient standard. 

A further difference of importance relates to the extent to which 
the Church as an institution may rightly enter into political and 
economic questions. Some denominations are conservative on this 
point, maintaining that the sole duty of the Church is to win indi- 
viduals to Christ through the witness of the Gospel and that any 
attempt to realize a Christian society that is not based upon such 
antecedent conversion is in effect a perversion of the Christian wit- 
ness. Others favor a wider extension of the Church's mission. 
Agreeing that it is the Church's duty to witness to the truth, they 
think that one of the chief reasons why that witness has so little 
power is the indifference of Christians to the patent facts of social 
oppression and injustice, for so long as these remain uncorrected 
they constitute a most powerful argument against the reality of the 
Christian God. 

More important, however, than any differences in the conclusions 
reached are the different presuppositions from which the disputants 
approach the debate. One group believes that the Church has a 
certain definite and fixed constitution which was imposed upon 
it by Christ at its foundation, and which cannot be altered or 
modified without the sacrifice of the grace which makes it a super- 
natural institution. It is not a question of what we think desirable 
for the Church, but of what Christ has revealed concerning the 
Church. When that has been determined, the time for question is 
over. It becomes our duty loyally to follow the direction which 
our Master has given,. 

On this common basis we find wide varieties of individual inter- 
pretation. Indeed, it is instructive to observe what strange bed- 
fellows philosophy makes of men. Both the high church Epis- 
copalian and the Southern Baptist believe that there is divine 



184 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

authority for but one view of the Church's constitution. Each holds 
that Christ has definitely prescribed a certain way of observing 
His ordinances. Each makes unquestioning obedience to the divine 
command his justification for the refusal of fellowship with those 
who think otherwise.^ The result is the lamentable condition of 
our divided Christendom. 

Observing such an outcome, many Christians are convinced that 
there is something wrong in the process by which this conclusion 
is reached. They, too, believe that the Church as an institution 
has a divinely appointed mission to fulfil in the world and that it is 
not a matter of indifference how it is organized on lines of creed, 
polity, and worship, but they are convinced that the way to discover 
the true method of organization is to study the lessons which God's 
Spirit has been teaching His people in the course of the Church's 
entire experience. They think of the Church as a living organism 
consisting of persons spiritually united to Jesus Christ and progres- 
sively taught by Him as to His will. In the course of its history 
under the guidance of God's Spirit this living organism develops 
the external forms through which its inner life is expressed. These 
forms are not arbitrary or unimportant. They grow naturally and 
inevitably out of the past. They assimilate the results of past 
experience and hand them down to future generations ; but they are 
not rigid or immovable. Nothing that is alive is changeless. It is 
always creating new organs of expression. The Church, which is 
the creation of Him who is life indeed, is no exception to this rule.^ 

^An interesting example of the strict views of the Southern Baptists was 
their refusal to allow any money given to their chaplains to be spent on a 
communion service. Cf. War-Time Agencies of the Churches, p. 21, "It was 
specified that no part of the $250 was to be used for the purchase of a com- 
munion set, as the Council believed it necessary to have a local church mem- 
bership present in order to hold a communion service." 

^ One of the most interesting things about the recent pronouncement of the 
bishops at Lambeth was the extent to which it recognized the justice of this 
point of view. Cf. ''Christian Unity," pp. 359-360. "On the one hand there 
are other ancient episcopal Communions in East and West, to whom ours is 
bound by many ties of common faith and tradition. On the other hand there 
are the great non-episcopal Communions, standing for rich elements of truth, 
liberty, and life which might otherwise have been obscured or neglected. With 
them we are closely linked by many affinities, racial, historical, and spiritual. 
We cherish the earnest hope that all these Communions, and our own, may 
be led by the Spirit into the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God." 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 185 

In discussing the questions on which we differ from our fellow- 
Christians we must approach them with an open mind, asking first 
of all what agencies the Spirit of God has used in the past, and 
how these agencies can be made to serve the need of the new day 
and generation. Such widely accepted forms of organization and 
worship as, for example, the historic Episcopate and the Liturgy, 
have played so important a part in the life of the Church that the 
members of, the non-Episcopal and non-liturgical churches may 
well ask themselves whether the time has not come to make place 
for them in their polity and practice. But such acceptance, if it 
is to promote true unity, must be made willingly to meet a felt need, 
and cannot be imposed from without as a condition of reunion. 

The two ways of approach which we have thus briefly contrasted 
correspond roughly to the differences between the advocates of 
organic and those of federal union. The contrast is, to be sure, not 
an absolute one, but it is sufficiently accurate for our purpose. 
Most of those who have been most active in the cause of organic 
union have been so because they have believed that Christ intends 
the corporate, visible union of His Church and that the way to 
bring this about is to discover by discussion, conference, and study 
of the authoritative records of the past what the marks of such an 
outward and visible Church must be. Those who advocate federal 
union, on the other hand, believe that such discussion, however 
useful it may be as providing points of contact, will carry us but a 
little way, because it leaves out of account the most important of 
all our data; namely, the experience of the living Church which 
is working out the true form of its organization in the laboratory 
of life. To the question what this form is to be, they can give no 
final answer. Only experience of the future can teach us what the 
Church of the future is to be like. We must learn by actual experi- 
ment which of the existing forms of church organization are so 
essential that they cannot be spared and which can now properly 
be dispensed with. 

What interests us in all this is the fact that these experiments 
are actually being tried. The goal of union is being sought by a 
number of different methods, and each method holds out promise of 
real accomplishment. We have spoken of two of the best known 
of these methods, the method of organic union and that of federal 
union. But there are others which are not less worthy of study 



186 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

because they are more modest, and less widely advertised. There 
is the method of administrative union, as it is illustrated in such 
interdenominational agencies as the Home Missions Council, the 
Foreign Missions Conference, and other similar agencies. There 
is the method of local co-operation, as it meets us in the federations 
of churches and in the community church. There is the union 
of Christian individuals in unofficial, yet powerful, organizations 
such as the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciations. There are the conferences that bring together official and 
unofficial bodies in Ecumenical Councils and in Continuation Com- 
mittees. All these are ways through which the Christian spirit is 
manifesting itself to-day. Through each experience is being gar- 
nered which will be of service in shaping the lines of the Church of 
the future. 

4. Inferences as to the Future Organization of the Church Derived 

from a Study of Present Tendencies 

Can we discern the lines along which this movement toward 
unity is likely to develop? One hesitates to forecast the outcome of 
a situation so complicated, but if the past is to be any measure of 
the future, some such development as the following would seem 
not unlikely: (1) Denominations of the same or closely related 
families will be grouped or merged, and as a result the denomina- 
tional machinery and denominational consciousness will be strength- 
ened not only within each nation, but, in the case of the stronger 
communions, on an international scale; (2) the leading Protestant 
communions will be united in a nation-wide Federal Council; (3) 
the existing agencies of interdenominational administrative union 
will be perfected and grouped into certain main divisions such as 
(a) home missions, (b) foreign missions, (c) Christian education, 
etc.; (4) special questions or tasks on which the opinion of the 
Church is not sufficiently united to make official action possible or 
expedient will be referred to commissions or associations of indi- 
viduals for study, experiment, and report; (5) agencies of local co- 
operation will be multiplied and united on a nation-wide scale; 
(6) intermediate interdenominational organizations will be devel- 
oped on state or other convenient geographical lines; (7) periodic 
conventions will be held representing all the interests concerned to 
^ive public expression to the unity of the Christian forces \n the 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 187 

nation; (8) similar National Councils will be created in other 
countries and united in an International Council embracing all sec- 
tions of the Christian Church willing to join in it. 

We shall reserve for later consideration ^ the relation of these 
different lines of development to the movement for organic union. 
It is enough to say here that if organic union is ever to be realized 
on a comprehensive scale, this would seem to be the way in which 
it must come about. Organic union, to be effective, must be the 
expression of a preceding spiritual union, and spiritual union be- 
tween those who accept the Protestant principle of freedom can be 
achieved only through some such process of life as we have briefly 
sketched above. 

In the fields where progress has actually been made toward the 
corporate union of churches, that of denominational groups holding 
the same polity or of groups of closely related denominations within 
a definite geographical area, practical co-operation has preceded 
oflacial action. In each case the contacts already established 
through missionary work have proved the most potent influence in 
bringing the churches together. The world's need has proved the 
Church's teacher. In seeking to serve others it has discovered its 
true self. 

We have an instructive analogy in the life of the nation. Where 
organic union has been achieved on a large scale, as in the case of 
our own United States, it has been on the basis of a preceding 
federal union. The long struggle for liberty taught the American 
colonies their need of one another and they came together in a 
provisional organization which retained for the co-operating units 
their full sovereignty and liberty of secession. But experience soon 
showed that without a strong central government the common inter- 
ests could not be adequately conserved, and the present Constitu- 
tion of the United States was the result of this discovery. Even 
so it took nearly two generations and a bloody war before the 
older theory of state sovereignty was definitely outgrown and the 
right of secession at will finally abandoned. It was the experience 
of working together for common ends that made possible the de- 
gree of national unity which the United States now possesses. If 
unity is ever to come in the Christian Church, it must be in some 
such way as this. 

' Cf . Chapter XIII. 



188 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

There are encouraging signs that this fact is being widely 
recognized. The pressure of the world's need is forcing Christians 
together in many ways, and the contacts so brought about are 
producing corresponding changes in organization. We have studied 
one notable illustration of this in the General War-Time Commis- 
sion of the Churches. What was done successfully in war may be 
done, must be done, in peace. It is significant that the bishops at 
Lambeth should have associated with their moving appeal for the 
organic union of Christendom this significant resolution: 'The 
Conference recommends that wherever it has not already been done, 
councils representing all Christian communions should be formed 
within such areas as may be deemed most convenient as centres of 
united effort to promote the physical, moral, and social welfare of 
the people and the extension of the rule of Christ among all nations 
and over every region of human life." ^ 

In the meantime, the movement for organic union is going on 
in the lesser and more closely related groups to which reference has 
already been made, and lessons are being learned and experience 
gained which will be invaluable for the larger movements which 
lie ahead. ^ 

For it is important to remember that the different manifestations 
of the spirit of union which we have reviewed are not arbitrary or 
independent. They are parts of a single movement which is going 
on before our eyes — a movement as natural and inevitable as any 
other life process. It meets obstacles as every life process does; 
obstacles in the realm of theory and even more serious ones in the 
realm of sentiment and habit. There are irreconcilables on the 
right hand and on the left; absolutists who insist that it must be all 
or nothing and individualists who cheerfully meet this challenge 
with the declaration, 'Then it shall be nothing." Behind these, re- 
inforcing them in a hundred subtle and disheartening ways, are the 
forces of prejudice, ignorance, and inertia, which have been the foes 
of unity in every country and in every age. Our final question is 
how these obstacles are to be met and overcome. 

^Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion, Holden at Lambeth 
Palace, July 5 to August 7, 1920; Encyclical Letter from the Bishops with 
the Resolutions and Reports, Resolution 13, p. 31. Society for Promoting 
Christian Knowledge, London, 1920. 

' One of the most instructive illustrations is that of the churches of Canada 
of which some account is given in Chapter XIII, pp. 259 sq. 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 189 

5. Principles which Condition Future Progress 

First of all and most important of all there must be contact, 
and this contact must, so far as possible, be natural and unforced. 
Hence every form of private and unofficial conference between 
Christians is to be encouraged in order that those ties of under- 
standing and confidence may be formed that make official union 
possible. Undue haste is to be deprecated. He goes far who goes 
slowly. 

This contact, to be effective, must be in both the realms in which 
the Christian experience moves — service and worship. We must 
work together and we must pray together. The precondition of 
any effective union between Christians is the development of a 
common religious experience; but that we may worship together 
effectively we must have some common task 'which sends us to- 
gether to God for light and strength. 

Our most pressing need, therefore, is to find some form of com- 
mon work in which we can engage together. This work, to be 
significant, must be important enough to require the services of 
trained men for its successful accomplishment. Hence adminis- 
trative union, or the union which grows out "of the practical co- 
operation of those who are already serving their respective organi- 
zations in a representative capacity, is the best place at which to 
begin more formal relationships. 

However long delayed, sooner or later official denominational 
co-operation there must be; for unless those who are the official 
leaders of the different bodies feel the responsibility for educating 
their constituents in their relationship to Christians of other 
churches, their power to work together will be limited in ways 
which we shall study more carefully in the chapters that follow. 

The test of effective co-operation, in church affairs as every- 
where else, is financial. What men pay for they feel they own. 
To make the churches realize their partnership in a common task, 
this partnership must appear on the balance-sheet. 

To this end there must be effective publicity, a publicity that 
uses the agencies of the denomination to educate its members in 
their responsibility to the larger Church of which the denomination 
is but a part. The key to interest is always knowledge. To arouse 
enthusiasm we must impart the facts. 



190 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Above all there must be absolute frankness in facing the situa- 
tion as it exists. There is much glib talk of unity which does more 
harm than good, since it ignores real difficulties and seeks to sub- 
stitute words for facts. Nothing can be more dangerous than to 
pretend to have spiritual unity when none exists. We have made 
great progress in getting together. But the process is not yet com- 
plete, and it is only right that we should face the fact. Not in 
minor points only, but in matters that are vital, Christians are still 
divided in spirit. 

The ancient cleavage between Catholic^ and Protestant still 
remains, and there are many in the so-called Protestant churches 
who consciously accept the Catholic view of Christianity, and many 
more who unconsciously act upon its premises. This fact we must 
take into account in our future plans for a reunited Christendom. 
Either we must make place in the reunited church for both types 
of religious faith and experience, or confess that for the present at 
least our union must be incomplete. 

Apart from this major cleavage between Christians there are 
other differences to be considered. At some of these we have already 
had occasion to glance in earlier portions of this chapter. They are 
found in the field of doctrine, of worship, and of organization. 
Some of these differences are inherent and must be dealt with by 
mutual recognition and tolerance. Others are due to misunder- 
standing or immaturity and can be removed by education. All are 
real difficulties to be faced frankly, discussed freely, and dealt with 
in the Christian spirit of faith and love which is the key to the 
successful resolution of all our difficulties. 

Besides these intellectual difficulties there are serious moral 
difficulties to be overcome. There is the inertia which seems im- 
plicit in institutional life. There is the tendency to regard the insti- 
tution as an end, and not simply as a means. There are the tempta- 
tions which accompany office-holding and the power of patronage. 
When an institution becomes as strong as the Christian Church and 
exercises as wide an influence, other motives lead men to join its 
ranks than devotion to its ideal. Not all who take the Christian 
vows are willing to pay the price which thorough commitment to 
their principles would involve. These facts, too, we must frankly 

* The term is used here in the same narrow sense in which the word "high 
churdiman" was used earlier in the chapter. 



SPIRITUAL SOCIETY AND ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTION 191 

recognize in our plans for the future. Any programme for the 
Church which requires the sacrifice of prestige or of ofiicial position 
will inevitably meet opposition. 

But these difficulties, far from discouraging us, should be but 
so many motives leading us to a more complete consecration. What 
the body is to the individual, the organized Church is to the Chris- 
tian society. It is the organ through which that society acts upon 
its human environment and shapes to spiritual uses the conflicting 
purposes of men and women. Organized government, in Church as 
in state, is an instrument of education by which men are trained to 
discipline their private likings in order that they may become able 
to work together and to reap the rewards of such work in greater 
usefulness and happiness. In this process, as in the simpler process 
of physical education, mistakes are made and dangers incurred. 
But there is no way of escaping this. It is the price of progress. 

It may be that to some readers of this book this will seem a 
disappointing conclusion. It may seem to them to lay too heavy 
a responsibility on human shoulders. They have been accus- 
tomed to think of the Church as a great exception to God's cus- 
tomary way of working for man through men. They are asked to 
see in it one more example, the most conspicuous, of the way in 
which He trains His children by responsibility. The writer sympa- 
thizes with their disappointment. He, too, wishes there were 
some short and easy road to the great consummation; but it 
seems this is not God's way. Wherever we look, in nature 
or in human life, we see God using finite and imperfect instruments 
for His divine and beneficent ends. Why should it surprise us to 
find the same true in the Church? What God wished to do for men 
He elected to do through men with all their weaknesses and limi- 
tations. We may wonder at the risks in such a choice. We cannot 
but accept with joy the splendid responsibility entrusted to us and 
carry forward in humility and in hope the work committed to our 
charge. 



PART IV 



ORGANIZING FOR WORK 



CHAPTER XI 

THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 

1. The Fundamental Importance of the Local Church for the 
Forward Movement in Christianity 

Thus far we have been moving largely in the realm of theory. 
We have been asking ourselves what the Church of Christ would be 
like if it could realize its divine ideal, and what are the methods 
which must be followed to bridge the gap between ideal and present 
fact. We have seen that as the institution of religion the Church 
exists to make men acquainted with God, and sharers in His plan 
for their lives; that this plan has to do not with individuals simply, 
but with society, and that the churches must therefore concern 
themselves with those wider questions of race, of class, and of 
nationality which divide men from one another and prevent the 
realization of the Christian ideal. We have seen that the first and 
most effective step toward this realization would be for the churches 
themselves to come together. It remains to ask what chance there 
is that this will come to pass. What are the churches actually doing 
and what are they likely to do to realize the ideal of a Christian 
social order? ^ 

The final test of success or failure for the Church must always 
remain the local congregation. The local congregation introduces 
us to individual men and women under the normal conditions of 
life. Here is laid the foundation for the Church's wider ministry in 
the preaching of the Gospel, and the formation of the habit of 
worship. Here children are gathered into the Sunday school for 
religious training and through the children the Church reaches the 
home which is the fountain-head of all true religious life. Here, 
too, is the ultimate source of the financial support of the Church — 
the recruiting ground to which all national organizations must go 
for supplies for their more ambitious projects. From the local 

*For the subjects treated in this and the following chapters, cf. ''Christian 
Unity : Its Principles and Possibilities," New York, 1920. 

195 



1^6 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

church, finally, come the young men and women who must provide 
the ministry of the future. To form an intelligent idea of the 
prospects of the Church as a whole we must begin by studying the 
local congregation. 

In the local church we meet the difficulties which thwart our 
effort to realize the ideal in their most acute form. The local church 
stands on Main Street, and is exposed to all the influences which go 
to make up the life of the average community. Here the individual 
displays his powers for harm with least check. Whatever there may 
be of provincialism or narrowness or self-satisfaction in the com- 
munity at large is reflected in the local church. Yet it is of such 
churches that the Church consists, and it is in the strength of the 
spiritual forces found in them that we must go forward, if we 
go at all. 

It is difficult to gather reliable information as to what goes on 
in our local churches. Statistics can tell us something of their 
number; of their relative growth and decline; of the number of 
members in each and how many are without a pastor; of the serv- 
ices they hold; of what they pay for their own support, and what 
they give to the Church at large. But these statistics mean little 
without interpretation, and for this interpretation we lack a stand- 
ard.^ All that we can hope to do is to register symptoms and 
tendencies. 

^An interesting attempt to establish such a standard was made by the 
Town and Country Divisions of the Interchurch World Movement. In co- 
operation with the Home Missions Council, they worked out a ''par standard" 
for the local church covering thirty-one points, all of which are regarded as 
obtainable by many town and country churches. These include "social and 
recreational equipment, including a stage; a well-equipped kitchen; an organ 
or piano; separate Sunday-school room or curtained spaces for classes or 
departments; stereopticon or motion picture equipment; adequate sanitary 
toilets ; horse-sheds or parking space for automobiles ; a pastor resident within 
the same community as the church, who gives full time to the work of that 
church, conducts services every Sunday, and receives a salary of at least 
$1,200 a year and house; an annual budget for all money raised; a yearly 
canvass of all members; sum for benevolences equal to at least twenty-five 
per cent, of the current expenses; services to all racial and occupational 
groups which have not their own Protestant churches; Sunday school the 
entire year; Sunday-school enrollment equal to church membership; provision 
for bringing pupils into the church; special instruction for church member- 
ship; teacher training or normal class; provision for leadership training; sys- 
tematic evangelism, aimed to reach the entire community and all classes of 
the community; co-operation with other churches of the community; organ- 
ized activities for age and sex groups; co-operation with church boards and 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 197 

On the face of it the situation seems discouraging. We hear 
constant complaints of the weakness and ineffectiveness of the local 
church ; of the loss of its former influence on individuals and on the 
community; of the increasing number of parishes without a minis- 
ter; of the growing difficulty of securing candidates to take the 
place of the men now in the field. This, true of all parts of the 
country to a greater or less extent, is pre-eminently true of the 
country districts. Here we see the effects of the individualism of 
our American Christianity in its most disheartening aspect. The 
overchurching of some communities and the all but total abandon- 
ment of others; the rivalry of denominations for promising fields 
and the corresponding neglect of those which are more needy; the 
loss of the natural constituency of the churches through the steady 
flow of population from country to city and the failure to devise 
any effective method for dealing with the situation thus created: 
these are some of the more obvious aspects of the present situation 
which strike the superficial observer. 

In Gill and Pinchot's study of the country churches of Ohio ^ 
we have the most complete study at present available of the con- 
dition to which this lack of foresight has reduced the Church.^ It 
reveals a state of overchurching which is almost unbelievable, with 
a corresponding state of weakness and inefficiency in the churches 
which exist. In the entire state there was in 1918 an average of 
one church for every two hundred and eighty people. Out of every 
hundred of these churches sixty had less than one hundred members ; 
fifty-five less than seventy-five, and thirty-seven not more than 
fifty members. Two-thirds of the churches had no resident pastor, 
even counting in all the rural town churches, while in the open 
country only three hundred and sixty, or thirteen per cent of the 
two thousand eight hundred and seven churches, had resident pas- 
tors. The average salary paid in the denomination with the largest 

denominational agencies; service to the entire community; twenty-five per 
cent, of members with a definite place in some part of church activities." 
Cf. Four Country Churches of Distinction — Studies in Church Efficiency, 
Educational Department, Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church 
in the U. S. A. 

^"Six Thousand Country Churches," New York, 1919, pp. 8-11. 

^ It is to be noted that the State Federation of Ohio has prepared a revised 
survey of practically every county in Ohio based upon the material gathered 
by the Interchurch World Movement. This is in course of publication in a 
series of small pamphlets. 



198 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

number of country churches was eight hundred and fifty-seven 
dollars and free use of a parsonage; in the denomination with the 
next largest number, seven hundred and eighty-seven dollars, or six 
hundred and eighty dollars, if a parsonage was provided. 

What has been going on in Ohio has been going on with varia- 
tions in other parts of the country. The surveys conducted by the 
Presbyterian Board of Home Missions through its Department of 
Country Life found essentially the same conditions in each of the 
several states in which counties were surveyed.^ In Missouri only 
four per cent, of the country churches had resident ministers.^ In a 
recent survey of two central counties made by Dr. Alva Taylor, 
Secretary of the Social Service Commission of the Disciples, not a 
single resident pastor was found.^ Yet in these same communities 
there may be two, three, or even four or five different church build- 
ings standing side by side.* 

It is difficult to exaggerate the disastrous effect of such a state 
of things. The loss in money and efficiency is obvious; that in 
prestige is even greater. How can we expect young people to respect 
an institution which conducts its affairs in so haphazard and unbusi- 
nesslike a way? With what conscience can we seek recruits for a 

^ Such surveys have been published for counties in Ohio, California, Oregon, 
Arkansas, Maryland, and Tennessee. 

"Cf. Alva W. Taylor, 'The Community Church the Only Way Out," The 
Community Churchman, April, 1921. 

'Ibid. 

*From a number of cases in Missouri furnished by Dr. David R. Piper, 
editor of the Community Churchman, we cite the following: 

''Callao, population 526 according to 1910 Census, but reckoned now 
at 450. Four churches: Methodist Episcopal, Southern Baptist, Presbyterian 
U. S. A., and Disciples. All the buildings are rotting down except the Disci- 
ples. Alexandria, a fishing village of about 500, has three churches: Dis- 
ciples, Presbyterian U. S., and Baptist, and no resident pastor. Presby- 
terian building in fair condition. Others dingy. Mirable, population 250, 
has four churches, including Presbyterian U. S. A., and Methodist. Nov- 
elty, population 232, has four churches: Disciples, Methodist Episcopal, 
Methodist Episcopal South, and Baptist (Southern). There is an open country 
community in the southwest comer of Grundy County, near the village of 
Hickory where within a radius of three miles are six church buildings. Two 
of these are Baptist and one Disciples. The farthest of these churches is less 
than three and a half miles from Hickory, which has one church: Methodist 
Episcopal. At the time of the survey last fall, no church had a resident 
preacher." 

Dr. Piper comments : 'T do not know whether you consider these as flagrant 
examples. They are the normal thing in northern Missouri." 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 199 

ministry which offers no larger or more inspiring opportunity of 
service? 

In cities and larger communities, the situation is, of course, 
better; but here, too, there are disturbing factors. Most noticeable 
is perhaps the almost complete absence in most of the Protestant 
denominations of any recognized parish system. Churches are 
placed at haphazard where the taste and inclination of the members 
incline, and moved to a more desirable location when the shifting 
of population seems to make such a change advantageous. As a 
result we have the familiar spectacle of overchurching in some 
quarters and no churches in others. The Church as a whole fails 
to impress itself upon the community as a whole. 

Both of these results are due to the same cause, the unrestricted 
individualism which has hitherto been the dominant factor in our 
American Christianity. The methods which were appropriate for 
dealing with a situation of one kind have shown themselves inade- 
quate to meet different conditions. In an earlier study ^ these con- 
ditions were summed up as follows: "What is needed in our cities 
to-day is a group of strong churches, with ample resources, highly 
organized, fully manned, well equipped for social and educational 
as well as for distinctly religious work, intelligently linked in a 
well-planned parish system, with an efficient central organization 
fitted to cope with new conditions as they arise, and flexible enough 
to try needed experiments without the sacrifice of continuity of 
purpose. What we find is a group of churches planted under the 
conditions of an earlier day, working in more or less isolation and 
independence, having no definitely marked parish lines, but minis- 
tering to people of widely different localities, held together by a 
principle of elective affinity, and feeling already the drain upon their 
financial and moral resources, which is due to the increased cost 
of living and the consequent transfer of many of their most loyal 
supporters from the city to its suburbs. What is needed in the 
country, where conditions are exactly the reverse, is a wise husband- 
ing of resources, in which there shall be one church to a community, 
and in which all waste of men and of material shall be avoided in 
order that the widest possible territory may be most effectively 
covered. What we actually see is a group of struggling churches 

^W, Adams Brown, "Problems and Possibilities of American Protestant"* 
ism," Constructive Quarterly, June, 1913, 



200 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

planted, many of them, under conditions wholly different from the 
present, competing one with another for a support which would be 
scarcely adequate properly to maintain a single effective church." 
This state of things has been made possible by the large powers 
granted to the local congregation in the matter of tenure of prop- 
erty. In the Protestant churches the title to the church building 
and other permanent funds of the local congregation is ordinarily 
vested in a Board of Trustees distinct from the spiritual officers of 
the church, which board is responsible to the state for the adminis- 
tration of the church's finance. In churches of Congregational or 
independent polity, this control is absolute. In more highly or- 
ganized bodies like the Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Episcopal 
churches, where there are certain creedal requirements obligatory 
on the ministers of the denomination, the control is limited in 
various ways which it would take too long to describe. But 
even in these cases the power of the denominational authorities 
over the property of a self-supporting church is of the slightest 
and is seldom, if ever, exercised. Only when weaker congregations 
seek aid from the missionary agencies of the Church has the 
parent body any effective means of controlling policy, and here, 
as we have seen, denominational pride or rivalry often makes it 
difficult to use this power in any effective or constructive way. 

But most formidable obstacles can be overcome if the will to 
overcome be present, and this will is abundantly evident in the 
matter which we are discussing. We find a growing consciousness 
of the responsibility of the Church to its environment, whether that 
environment be rural or urban. We find also an increasing tendency 
on the part of the churches to come together. In small places this 
tendency meets us in the movement for the community church; in 
towns and cities it appears in the rapid increase in the number and 
influence of federations of churches. 

2. The Expanding Work of the Local Church— The Country 

Church as Community Centre— The Institutional Church 

—The Mother Church with Affiliated Churches 

One of the most encouraging features of the church life of our 
time is the deeper sense of the Church's responsibility for its imme- 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 201 

diate environment. This is one of the results of the more vivid 
social consciousness already mentioned. It meets us both in city 
and country and is producing significant changes in the activities 
of the Church and, what is still more important, in its ideals. The 
sense of responsibility to the neighborhood is not only bringing 
churches closer together; it is also suggesting to them new things 
which they can do when united. They are facing the problem of 
the social application of the Gospel in the place where, in the last 
analysis, it must be met and solved, the place where men have their 
homes and do their work and bring up their children. 

In the country districts and the smaller rural communities, this 
enlarged sense of social responsibility is closely connected with the 
movement for a community church. It shows itself in the greater 
interest of the minister in the week-day affairs of his parishioners 
and in the increasing effort to make the church a centre for all 
healthful social activity in the community. A type of minister is 
coming into existence who takes the country church as his chosen 
field because he is convinced that it is the key to the life of the 
community as a whole and that its many-sided contacts bring him 
into a more intimate relationship with his people than is possible 
in larger centres. Such a minister identifies himself with what goes 
on in the township or in the county. He is a member of the grange, 
interested in the farmers' problems; often he has a bit of land of 
his own and knows how to cultivate it; above all, he is the con- 
necting link between the local interests and needs of his community 
and the larger life without. 

In the cities and larger towns the sense of the church's special 
responsibility for its neighborhood is even more apparent. Of the 
many forms which it is taking two are typical: (1) the institutional 
church; (2) the mother church with affiliated churches. 

The institutional church is the attempt to extend the activity of 
the local church till it includes every practicable form of ministry 
to the bodies and the minds of men. In neighborhoods where there 
are inadequate facilities for education and for recreation the church 
puts rooms at the disposal of its neighbors and provides workers to 
lead the various activities which gather about the centre thus pro- 
vided. St. George's Episcopal Church, in New York City, was a 
pioneer in work of this kind. 



202 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Almost all the typical social and philanthropic activities of our 
time can now be found in the programme of an institutional city- 
church: boys' clubs, girls' clubs, and clubs for older men and women, 
classes in language, citizenship, history and literature, good govern- 
ment clubs, societies for civic and social reform, clinics and day 
nurseries, dramatic societies and music classes. To read the year 
book of such a church would be an illuminating experience to those 
who think of the church as an outworn institution.^ 

Because of this many-sided and beneficent work, the institu- 
tional church is often regarded as the best model for the church 
everywhere. It seems a scandal to invest largely in buildings which 
are used but one day in the week, especially if these buildings are 
relieved of taxation. To justify such exemption it is felt that the 
church should be the centre of every form of helpful activity, 
through the week as on Sunday, in the city no less than in the 
country. The settlement is held up to the church as a model, or at 
least as a necessary supplement, for the settlement is simply doing 
in a voluntary and more or less haphazard fashion what the church 
ought to have been doing long ago. 

There is certainlv much to be said for this view. If a man's 
Christianity means anything it should be as apparent in his life 
during the week as in his conduct on Sunday. The church as the 
social expression of the Christian religion may be expected to illus- 
trate this fact in its organized life. It does not, however, follow that 
because the institutional church is at present indispensable it will 
always be equally necessary. As the Gospel gains ground and its 
authority is increasingly recognized, we should expect that all the 
institutions in society will reflect the new spirit. It will no longer 
be necessary for the church to do the work of school and clinic and 
social club, for the existing agencies of the community will provide 
every needed facility for health, education, and amusement. When 
the community has become so completely Christianized that the 
only thing left for the church to do is to provide a centre of social 

^ Of special interest is the recent revival of the New Testament ideal of 
bodily healing as a part of a religious ministry. We owe to the amazing 
success of Christian Science a strong impetus to regard health as a synthesis 
to which spirit as well as mind must contribute. Not a few modem churches 
have clinics where doctor, trained nurse, and minister work side by side, and in 
such experiments as the Emmanuel Movement and other similar movements 
the health-giving effect of religious faith is receiving new demonstration. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 203 

worship, it will be a most convincing proof that the church has 
succeeded in its task.^ 

A second way of applying the social Gospel in the local com- 
munity is through the mother church with affiliated churches. 
There are many churches located in centres which are adequately 
provided with social agencies, and do not need the facilities of the 
institutional church; but they adjoin other neighborhoods which are 
not so well supplied. In such circumstances it is often possible for 
the stronger church to establish an outpost, through which it can 
share its larger resources with those who are less fortunate and 
supply the means and the workers to maintain the varied ministry 
of the institutional church. 

It is essential to the success of this experiment that the new 
church centre should be a real church with its own officers and its 
direct responsibility, not a mere mission dependent for its policy 
upon the will of the parent body. The affiliated church should 
command the services of a first-class minister and be able to take 
its place with the other churches of the city in the larger co-opera- 
tive movement to which reference will presently be made. Only in 
this way can it win the support of the self-respecting people to whom 
it ministers and successfully meet the criticism so often directed 
against American Protestantism, that it is the church of a class. 

A conspicuous example of a successful affiliation of this kind is 
the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City, with its two 
affiliated churches, Christ Church and the Church of the Covenant. 
Each of these three centres has its independent organization and 
activities. Together they provide a ministry which spans the city 
from river to river.^ 

A different application of the principle of affiliation is furnished 
by the American Parish on the upper East Side in New York City, 
Here a group of foreign-speaking churches are associated with an 

* Where the community in which a Protestant church is carrying on an 
institutional work is predominantly Catholic or Jewish it is not always easy 
to hold the balance between the function of the church as a representative 
of Protestant Christianity and its wider activities as a community centre. 
Some students of the problem feel the difficulties so acutely as to question 
whether the two kinds of activity can wisely be carried on under the same 
auspices. They argue that the same expenditure of funds and leadership 
would yield larger results both for the community and the church if each 
enterprise operated from its own centre. 

^ Cf . Year Book of the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York, 1922, 



204 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

English-speaking church through a Board of Pastors under the 
chairmanship of the pastor of the latter, all the churches receiving 
support in money and workers from the other churches in the 
Presbytery working through the Church Extension Committee,^ 

An advantage of the system of affiliated churches is that it 
makes possible a multiple pastorate. In so extensive a work, men 
of different talent and training may find their place. The wisdom 
and judgment which come with long years of experience are needed 
to balance the fire and enthusiasm of youth. For the minister of 
such a parish the dead-line has no terrors, for he has something to 
give which is needed for the largest success of the whole. 

In the extension of this system, and its application in varying 
degree to the different conditions which obtain in the country, is to 
be found one way of meeting the difficulty, referred to in an earlier 
chapter, of the future of the older man in the ministry. When we 
cease to make the individual congregation our sole method of 
measurement it will be possible for us to work out combinations in 
which men of different ages as well as of different temperament and 
training can find their appropriate place. 

This consciousness of common responsibility for community 
problems is having its reflex influence upon the relation of the 
churches to one another. The federation movement, of which we 
shall presently speak, is one example of this influence, but it is 
paralleled by a similar movement within each denomination. 
Where a city-wide organization already exists, as in churches of 
Episcopal and Presbyterian polity, it is being more effectively 
utilized. Where it was lacking, as in the case of Congregational 
and Baptist bodies, it has been created. More and more it is 
recognized that as no congregation can solve its own problems alone, 
so each is responsible for helping the others to meet the larger 
demands which are laid upon all alike. 

So our study of the enlarging work of the Church leads us inevi- 
tably to the other tendency of which we have spoken, the move- 
ment for unity. Wliat can be done by the local church alone, even 
with the best will in the world, is limited. The last illustration we 
have used — that of the American Parish — is the best proof of this. 
What is being done by the churches of this parish is made possible 

*Cf. "The Church and the City." An account of Home Missions and 
Church Extension in New York Presbytery. New York, 1917. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 205 

because of the support of the presbytery as a whole. The more 
earnestly we try to enlarge the work of the local church and to 
increase its usefulness, the more clearly we perceive that without 
the co-operation of all the churches our effort is doomed to failure. 
Apart from the closer denominational relationship just referred to, 
this co-operation may take two main forms according to the size 
of the community with which we are concerned — ^that of the commu- 
nity church, and that of the federation of churches. 

3. The Movement for the Community Church — Its Present Status 

and Possible Lines of Future Development — The 

Three Forms of the Community Church ^ 

By the community church in the sense in which we shall use the 
term here, we mean a church which aims to provide religious facili- 
ties for all the people who live in a definite locality, so that there 
will be no need within that geographical area for any other Protes- 
tant religious organization.^ It is evident that the community church 
as so defined, must be confined to places with a limited population. 
In cities and larger towns other means must be found to express the 
unity of Christians. 

The term "community church" is sometimes used in a different 
sense to describe such an experiment as is being carried on by 
Dr. John Haynes Holmes in New York City, where a number of 
persons, desiring an even broader basis for church membership than 
that afforded by their previous association with Unitarianism, have 
founded a religious society with no creed or platform other than 
membership in the community and the desire to do good to one's 
fellowmen.^ Such a use of the term, however legitimate, is for our 
present purpose confusing and we shall ignore it here. 

We have already sufficiently described the situation which the 
community church is designed to correct. It is the overchurching 
which is the natural result of the unrestricted operation of the de- 

^Cf. John Haynes Holmes, "New Churches for Old," New York, 1922; 
Henry E. Jackson, "The Community Church," Boston, 1919; "Christian Unity, 
Its Principles and Possibilities," pp. 96-110. 

*The reasons which make it necessary for us to restrict our consideration 
to Protestant agencies have been already explained. For what can be done 
in the way of co-operation between Protestants and Roman Catholics cf. pp. 

271, 272. 

•The Statement oj Purpose is as follows: 

"This church is an institution of religion dedicated to the service of 

humanity. 



206 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

nominational competition we have already described. In the flow 
of population westward the new-comers brought their churches with 
them. If the community seemed at the time too small to absorb the 
liberal supply of ecclesiastical privileges which they provided, they 
looked to the future to justify their action. They were building not 
for a few hundreds on the ground, but for the pretentious town that 
was presently to be. Denominational rivalry reinforced local pride 
with a result which we know only too well. When early hopes 
were disappointed, and the steady sweep from country to city began 
to empty the villages and little towns of the young people on whom 
future growth depended, the result was inevitable. 

It is a hopeful sign that so many people are awake to the danger 
of the situation, and are making plans to meet it. These plans 
agree in this, that the remedy for overchurching is unity. If there 
are not Christians enough in any one place to sustain more than 
one strong church, then let them come together and make one. The 
community church is the name we give to a church which is the 
outcome of such a union. It has three main forms: (1) the union 
church; (2) the federated church; (3) the denominational church 
serving the entire community. 

By the union church we mean a church which includes all the 
persons in its neighborhood without regard to their denominational 
affiliation. In some cases it proposes its own creed; in others it 
ignores creed altogether. In some its Christian character is em- 
phasized and its members feel in sympathy with the religious his- 
tory of the past. In others the point of view is radical, and the ties 
which bind it to the older churches of the loosest. 

It is clear that a church of this kind has significant points of 
contact with the other kind of community church described above. 
It is like it in its composite character, and, above all, in its lack 

"Seeking truth in freedom, it strives to apply it in love for the cultivation 
of character, the fostering of fellowship in work and worship, and the estab- 
lishment of a righteous social order which shall bring abundant life to men. 

"Knowing not sect, class, nation or race, it welcomes each to the service 

of all." 

Bond oj Union Imcrihed on the Church Book 

"We, the undersigned, accepting the stated Purpose of this church, do join 
ourselves together that we may help one another, may multiply the power of 
each through mutual fellowship, and may thereby promote most effectively 
the cause of truth, righteousness, and love in the world. 

"Persons signing the above Bond of Union are accepted as members of the 
church." 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 207 

of denominational connection; but it differs from it in being really 
and not simply in ideal inclusive. It is, in fact, what in name it 
professes to be, a community church. 

It is difficult to know how many such churches there are. 
Springing up as they do to meet local conditions, and depending for 
their success upon the initiative of individuals, they are only be- 
ginning to develop the corporate consciousness which will make it 
possible for the movement to give an intelligent account of itself. 
In Massachusetts there are more than forty such churches which 
meet in annual conference under the guidance of the Massachusetts 
State Federation of Churches.^ In other states the movement has 
not developed so rapidly, but it is growing and has its representa- 
tives in all parts of the United States.^ 

The advantages of the community church of this type are those 
of the Congregational system in its more thoroughgoing form. It 
puts full responsibility upon the people of the community, derives 
its final authority from them, and leaves them free to shape their 
institutions of belief and worship in any form to which the leading 
of the present Spirit shall seem to point. On the other hand, its 
disadvantages are those of Congregationalism in every form. Its 
ties with the past being of the loosest, it misses the steadying influ- 
ence that comes from tradition and enters an age which has defi- 
nitely broken with individualism without any effective nation-wide 
agencies of unity. What the future of the movement is to be and 
how large its contribution to the life of the Church as a whole, will 
depend largely upon the spirit in which its representatives approach 
this final test of all organized life — ^the test which is furnished by 
the necessity of living and working together. 

It is too soon to predict what the outcome of the experiment will 
be. Two possibilities seem open; one, that the union church will 
form the nucleus of a new denomination of a more liberal and in- 
clusive character — a denomination that, in its desire to be catholic, 
is ready to overlook even such ancient distinctions as that between 

^ While forty-one such churches were listed by the Massachusetts Federa- 
tion of Churches, only twenty-two complied with the request for statistical 
reports in January, 1921. The last annual conference (the tenth in number) 
was held in Hough's Neck in June, 1921. 

^Dr. Piper, editor of the Community Churchman, states that his card 
index contains the names of 325 churches of this type. This list, however, 
includes both consolidated churches and those which have been independent 
since their formation. Of the latter there are known to be 144. 



208 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Christian and Jew.^ The other and the more likely is that, like so 
many other liberal movements, it will fulfil itself through its reflex 
influence on the older churches. 

There are, to be sure, some advocates of the community church 
who predict for it a still more ambitious future. Thus Dr. Joseph 
McAfee ^ looks for a time when the older denominational distinc- 
tions will no longer be tolerated, and membership in the community 
carry with it ipso facto membership in the church. But this would 
be simply to repeat over again in the name of democracy the ex- 
periment of the state church against which American Protestantism 
was a protest. So long as men sincerely differ in their religious 
convictions, these convictions must somehow find expression in or- 
ganization, and the church must take account in its plans for its 
own constitution of the existing differences in the beliefs and prac- 
tices of religious people. This insight determines the other forms 
of community church which we have still to consider— the federated 
church, and the denominational church functioning for the whole 

community. 

The federated church takes its departure from the existing de- 
nominational differences and makes place for these within the mem- 
bership of the united church. It does not ask the Congregationalist 
to give up his Congregationalism, or the Methodist his Methodism. 
On the contrary, it recognizes this membership on its rolls and in 
the apportionment of its benevolences. When a new convert joins 
the church he is enrolled in the denomination of his profession. 
When a pastor is called he may belong to any one of the commun- 
ions represented in the membership and is so entered on its minis- 
terial roll. But he is called to be pastor of the united church and 
ministers to all its people alike. Of churches of this kind there are 
known to be between two hundred and three hundred,^ and when 

^The example of the Disciples is instructive here. Like the community 
church, they began as a protest against denominationahsm. Their hope was, 
by a return to primitive Christianity, to find some simple and inclusive form 
in which all Christians could unite. In fact, however, the logic of events has 
forced them against their will into their present position of a denommation 
among denominations, 

^New Republic, January 18, 1919, pp. 331 sq. The same point of view has 
been more fully set forth by Dr. John Haynes Holmes m his recent book, 
"New Churches for Old," New York, 1922. 

*The list in the office of the Home Missions Council contains 300 names; 
that of Dr. Piper, 236. Conditions in these communities are so constantly 
changing, "however, that it is diflacult to obtain reliable statistics. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 209 

one considers the difficulties in such an arrangement, on the whole 
they are functioning with surprising success.^ 

Yet in the long run it is doubtful if this method will perma- 
nently solve the difficulty. It is instructive to remember that in the 
Plan of Union of 1810, Congregationalists and Presbyterians applied 
the principle of the federated church to their home-missionary 
programme; but the time came when both churches agreed that the 
method had outlived its usefulness and each resumed its original 
independence of action.^ The stronger a church grows, the more it 
will desire a special outlet for its energies. The division of funds 
between different denominational boards will become increasingly 
unsatisfactory, and the lack of a unified missionary programme 
even more so. These difficulties can be successfully overcome only 
when the churches as a whole recognize their common responsibility 
and provide an interdenominational programme of work in support 
of which churches of different denominations can unite. Until this 
is done the federated church must remain a temporary makeshift 
— ^useful as pointing the way to something better.^ 

There remains a third form of the community church which, 
if it can be had, is simpler than either of the preceding. It is the 
denominational church functioning for the entire community. It is 
possible for a congregation of any one of the larger Protestant 
bodies so to recognize its obligations to the community as a whole 
and so to plan for the discharge of its communal responsibility that 
Christians of other denominations will feel that they can join it 
without loss of self-respect, and find their religious needs and as- 



^Cf. "Christian Unity: Its Principles and Possibilities," pp. 99-101. 

^Op. cit., p. 287. ''By the provisions of this agreement, which applied to 
home-missionary soil, each member in a mixed church should have the priv- 
ileges of the polity of his choice. Each church should choose a 'standing 
committee' which should exercise the ordinary rights of the session, and the 
delegate of such a standing committee should have full recognition as a ruling 
elder if sent to a presbytery. Presbyterian and Congregational ministers 
could be indifferently pastors of Presbyterian, Congregational, or mixed 
churches, but should be answerable for discipline according to the polity they 
represented." 

^ The term "federated church" is sometimes used in a different sense to 
describe (o) two churches of different denominations employing the services 
of a single pastor; (b) a church in which a pastor of one denomination serves 
a church of another; (c) churches having as temporary members persons of 
different denominations as in the case of the American churches in Europe 
or in the Canal Zone. 



210 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

pirations satisfactorily met. There are doubtless many hundreds, 
it may be thousands, of such churches.^ But the movement meets 
with two obstacles which cannot be overcome without assistance 
from without: (1) the possible opposition of the denominational 
authorities; (2) the difficulty of providing in the same service for 
the needs of members of the liturgical and of the non-liturgical 
churches. 

One of the great advantages of the denominational community 
church is that it can count on the help and support of the denomi- 
national Board of Missions. In weaker communities this is an 
asset of no slight importance. But the denominational connection 
may be a liability as well as an asset, and be used to prevent Chris- 
tians coming together as well as to help them to do so. There are 
communities to-day not strong enough adequately to support a 
single Christian church, into which the money of more than one 
Christian denomination is being poured. Such waste of resources 
is little short of criminal, and it is a happy sign that the conscience 
of Christians is increasingly setting itself against it. 

All the more refreshing is it to note instances in which the influ- 
ence of the central bodies is being thrown in the interest of co- 
operation and comity. Through such enlightened leadership Maine 
has long been grappling successfully with the problem of the local 
church. The same is true of Massachusetts. In the State of Ver- 
mont not less than eighty-two churches in thirty-eight localities 
have gone on a conmiunity basis during the past four years. The 
most recent example of intelligent planning is Montana, where in 
1919 the Home Mission authorities of the State combined in an 
"Every Community Service Endeavor." One of the features of 
this plan is the development, wherever possible, of the community 
church of the denominational type.^ These are but the most strik- 
ing examples of a movement which is nation-wide and which is full 
of promise for the future of Christianity.^ 

^The line which separates such a denominational community church from 
a denominational church of the conventional type is so vague that it is diffi- 
cult to obtain reliable statistics. Dr. Piper puts the number above 500. A 
list furnished me by the Massachusetts Federation of Churches reckons 240 
in that state alone. . ^^ 

'Cf. "What Montana has Done and is Doing in Christian Co-operation. 
Home Missions Council, New York, 1921. 

="A recent editorial in the Christian Century (December 29, 1921), while 
recognizing the good done by this movement, sounds a needed warning against 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 211 

More difficult to deal with is the other obstacle, that which 
grows out of sincere difference in religious conviction and experi- 
ence. While it is true that most Protestant Christians can pass 
from one denomination to another without the sense of serious loss, 
there are exceptions to the rule. In churches like the Episcopal 
and Lutheran, which have cultivated a strict sense of denomina- 
tional responsibility, many persons feel recreant to their Christian 
duty unless they can have access to the sacrament in the particular 
form in which they are accustomed to receive it from a minister of 
their own communion. The same is true of those Baptists who 
practise close communion. In this fact is the most serious obstacle 
to the present movement for the community church. 

We have in mind a community of four thousand people in which 
a single church has been ministering with acceptance to the Protes- 
tant Christians within its limits. Members of no less than twenty- 
one communions, including the Episcopalians, who stand fourth in 
its membership, unite in its service and contribute to its support. 
It has a neighborhood house which cares for the social and recrea- 
tional needs of the whole community. It has a minister who com- 
mands the confidence and affection of all who know him. Yet this 
happy state of things is threatened because a few individuals in the 
commimity feel that they cannot do justice to their religious con- 
victions without having a church of their own. 

Such facts give significance to the proposed Concordat between 
the Episcopal and Congregational churches. This is an arrange- 
ment by which, without sacrificing his standing as a Congregational 
minister, a man may receive Episcopal ordination for the purpose 
of ministering to those Episcopalians in his congregation who desire 
to receive the sacrament from a priest of their own communion.^ 
Unsatisfactory as a permanent solution of the problem of Christian 
unity, this would relieve the strain in many a local situation, and 
it is much to be hoped that no obstacle will prevent the experiment 
from being tried. 

interpreting the principle of denominational comity too narrowly. It reminds 
us that in the matter of church relationships there is no such thing as a 
vested right. The denomination exists to serve the community, not vice 
versa; and in the complicated situation which faces us to-day no solution 
which proceeds on the basis of mathematical equivalents can be satisfactory. 
* For the text of the proposed Concordat of. Manning, "The Call to Unity," 
New York, 1920, pp. 144-152. 



212 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

But the denominational church alone, useful as it may be, can- 
not solve the problems of the community. The difficulties already 
noted in the case of the federated churches reappear here and the 
remedy is the same. The denominations themselves must come to- 
gether and create some central missionary agency through which 
the common work to which all alike are committed can be carried 
on. When this central agency has been created, denominational 
rivalry will be attacked in its citadel. If all are working together 
through the same agency for the same end, it will not make much 
difference through which denominational treasury the river of 
benevolence reaches the common reservoir. 

A factor which is destined to play a far larger part in the life 
of the local church in the future is the growing influence of women. 
In the church at large it may be possible by the mere force of 
tradition or inertia to continue present methods for a considerable 
time. There are men enough to fill the existing positions without 
calling upon the women. Moreover, the latter find scope for their 
expanding activities in their own boards, many of which raise large 
sums of money and employ a large number of missionaries. In the 
local church this is not the case. Here all the resources available 
are insufficient to meet the need. The spectacle of two or three 
incompetent or inefficient men controlling the policy of a church 
in which all the energy and much of the spiritual force is supplied 
by women is too anomalous to continue. Sooner or later place will 
be found for the women on the official boards of the local church. 
In some denominations, as we have seen,^ this has already been 
done, and when it becomes the rule rather than the exception we 
may expect a new accession of energy and of devotion that will 
mean much for the Church. 

The movement for the community church is still in its infancy. 
The denominations have recognized its importance by creating de- 
partments of rural life, country church, and the like.^ It has en- 
listed the active support of the leaders of the agricultural colleges 
and other influential persons who realize the fundamental place 
held by the farmer in our national life. It has already found an 
organ of expression in the Community Churchman, a quarterly 

* E. g., The Methodists, cf . p. 30. 
"Cf. Chapter XII. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 213 

journal published in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, which represents, 
besides the denominational churches already mentioned, more than 
five hundred community churches in the technical sense.^ Through 
this and similar agencies experience will be shared and standards 
developed, and with the co-operation of all who are interested we 
may confidently expect great progress in the near future in grappling 
with this most serious and perplexing of all the problems of our 
American Christianity. 

4. The Federation of Churches — Its History and Present Status — 
Larger Aspects of the Federation Movement ^ 

The second form of the movement for local unity is the federa- 
tion or — as it is becoming more common to call it — the council of 
churches. This is the most practicable way of securing co-opera- 
tion in those larger centres where the religious needs of the com- 
munity can no longer be met by a single church. 

It is not necessary here to rehearse the causes which make some 
form of federation necessary. In our large cities we have all the evils 
with which denominationalism has plagued the smaller communities 
and others besides. In some quarters we find too many churches; 
in others too few. Everywhere we discover needless competition 
and waste. What is more serious still, we find the churches lacking 
moral and spiritual influence on the community as a whole. What 
they might do in the cause of civic and social righteousness if they 
were united, is undone. What they try to do in the sphere in which 
they are actually working is twice done or half done. To correct 
these evils a few earnest and ardent spirits a few years ago ini- 
tiated the movement which we now know as the federation of 
churches. 

The federation of churches differs from the federal movement 
in the larger sense in which we have already considered it in that 
while the latter deals with the denomination as a whole, this is 
confined to the local congregation. The movement has passed 
through a period of experiment in which mistakes were made and 
experience gathered. In the course of this experience it has worked 
out a set of principles which are now commonly accepted by those 

^E.g., union or federated churches. 

'Cf. "Christian Unity: Its Principles and Possibilities," pp. 110-122. 



214 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

who have studied the situation with which they are designed to 
deal.^ 

There are three possible ways of forming a federation. It may 
be formed by a group of individuals, ministers or laymen, who 
associate themselves for the study of community problems and do 
whatever they can to promote co-operation among the churches. 
It may be formed by the local congregations, choosing delegates 
to represent them in a council which shall consider their common 
interests and report their recommendations to the parent body. 
Finally, in those cities which are so large that the missionary task 
of the Church can not be adequately handled by the local churches 
themselves, it may be formed through the union of the City Missions 
Societies or Church Extension Societies which the denominations 
have created to carry on their missionary work or even by the 
denominations themselves. The first and third are devices designed 
to meet exceptional situations. The second is the prevailing method 
in cities of moderate size. 

In New York City all three of these methods may be studied. 
The size of the city is so great, its problems so difficult, its changes 
so rapid and bewildering that until recently no effort to bring about 
a comprehensive organization for the greater city had been success- 
ful. The geographical and economic difficulties, in themselves all 
but insuperable, are accentuated by the division of responsibility 
between dioceses, conferences, classes, and presbyteries. Under 
these conditions it has been hard to work out a single comprehensive 
organization for the city as a whole. Manhattan has been working 
in its field through its Federation and City Missions Council, and 
Brooklyn and Queens through their own organizations. Only re- 
cently has it been possible to create an organization comprehensive 
enough to take in all parts of the greater city. 

The New York Federation of Churches in its older form illus- 
trates the first of the three methods of approach to the city prob- 
lem. It began as an organization of individual pastors and laymen 

'The story of these experiments is told by Dr. Roy B. Guild, Secretary of 
the Commission on Councils of Churches of the Federal Council, in the chap- 
ter on this subject in the volume on "Christian Unity" already referred to as 
Tt / »TT'''''i?"', publications by the Commission (e.g., ''Practicing Christian 
Umty New York, 1919; "Community Programs for Co-operating Churches," 
JNew York, 1920). To these we may refer the reader who wishes fuller infor- 
mation as to details. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 215 

who believed in federation and were working to bring it about. It 
did not officially represent the churches as a whole. The Federation 
has done indispensable work in investigating conditions, dissemi- 
nating information, and forming public opinion, but its unofficial 
character has prevented it from becoming a true federation of 
churches in the sense in which this is true of other organizations 
which we are presently to describe/ 

To supplement this lack the New York City Missions Council 
was established. This is a committee consisting of officially ap- 
pointed delegates of the responsible ecclesiastical bodies carrying 
on missionary work in Manhattan and the Bronx. It includes rep- 
resentatives of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, 
Baptist, Disciples, and Dutch Reformed churches and of the City 
Missions Society. The basis of representation differs in different 
cases. In the case of the Episcopal Church the diocese is the unit 
represented; in the Dutch Reformed Church the classis; in other 
cases the responsible Church Extension or City Missions Society is 
the appointing body. The powers of the Council are purely advi- 
sory and consultative; yet it has done much to establish principles 
of comity and to create in its constituency a spirit of confidence 
and co-operation. 

Recently the Council has united with a similar organization in 
Brooklyn to form a comprehensive body taking in the entire field 
of greater New York. This enlarged Council has undertaken a 
study of the religious needs of the greater city which it is hoped 
will prove a useful guide for further planning.^ 

Neither Federation nor Council in its present form is adequate 
to meet the needs of the greater city, and plans are already under 
way and indeed far advanced to supply New York City with a 
really responsible and representative federation. In this case, ow- 
ing to the size of the city, the unit of representation will not be the 
individual church, but the denomination. The right to vote for 

^On the history and work of the New York Federation cf. the files of 
Federation, published by the New York Federation of Churches, esp. VII, 
No. 4, April, 1914. 

' A similar organization has existed in Chicago for many years. It includes 
five denominations — Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, Disci- 
ples — and operates under an agreement which binds the co-operating bodies 
to submit all plans for locating new churches to the Council for its approval. 
This Council must not be confused with the Comity Committee of the Chicago 
Federation of Churches, which includes sixteen denominations. 



216 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

directors and to determine the general policy of the Federation will 
be vested in the representatives of the denominations which co- 
operate. Provision will be made through a class of general mem- 
bers for representatives of the co-operating local churches and 
others whose participation in the work of the Federation is desirable. 
A similar federation exists in Chicago, in which sixteen different 
denominations co-operate on a basis of proportional representation. 

Reference to the Church Extension and Home Missions Com- 
mittees calls attention to another feature of the churches' local 
administrative machinery, of which brief mention must be made, 
namely, the denominational committees in the different localities 
which are charged with the responsibility of caring for the weaker 
churches and otherwise promoting their missionary and educational 
work. In cities like New York and Chicago these are powerful 
bodies raising and expending large sums of money, employing a 
considerable staff of workers, and commanding skilled leadership. 
In smaller communities the service rendered is usually by volun- 
teers and the machinery much simpler. These local organizations 
are the natural points of contact between the local community and 
the nation-wide work of the Church of which we shall speak in the 
next chapter, and their efficient co-operation is a necessary condi- 
tion of carrying through any comprehensive plan. 

The conditions which obtain in New York City and Chicago are 
exceptional. In most cities the natural units to be federated are 
the local congregations. Such federations exist in forty-five cities,^ 
and as we have already seen have accumulated a considerable body 
of experience and a definite set of ideals. 

The following principles have been agreed upon by the repre- 
sentatives of the movement as essential to a successful federation. 
In the first place, the organization must be official, not voluntary 
or individual; that is, the units which form the federation must be 
congregations, or the larger bodies through which they co-operate 
officially. In the second place, adequate financial support must be 
secured before a beginning is made. The movement must be co- 
operative in support as well as personnel, and this support must 
come not simply from well-disposed individuals, but from the 
bodies which the federation proposes to unite. Finally, there must 

^According to the list compiled by the Commission on Councils of 
Churches, as of December 31, 1921. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 217 

be a paid secretary, giving his entire time to the movement, and 
sharing his experience with other secretaries engaged in similar 
work. The burdens to be carried are too heavy to be borne by 
amateurs. For the initiative and guidance of a successful federa- 
tion, only a professional is adequate.^ 

In the volume on Christian Unity already referred to, Dr. 
Guild outlines the programme of a typical federation which has 
served as a basis for more than a dozen others. Among its objects 
he enumerates the following: 

" (a) To make a continuous religious survey, to furnish reliable 
information and a basis for intelligent action. 

"(6) To prevent imnecessary overlapping and competition be- 
tween the denominations, and to see that all communities are ade- 
quately churched. 

"(c) To endeavor to arrest the attention of the city with the 
claims of Christ through a strategic programme of evangelism in 
all the churches individually, and unitedly where possible, depend- 
ing almost entirely on local leaders. 

"(d) To study the outstanding industrial and social needs of 
the city, and to apply Christianity in an effort at solution. 

" (e) To effect a policy of recreation which will afford to all the 
people as much as or more than the saloon has given, and to make 
all the recreations wholesome and uplifting. 

"(/) To present a programme of Christian education that will 
meet the needs of the city. 

"(g) To interpret Christian democracy, especially to the alien, 
non-English speaking groups in the city. 

"{h) To give proper publicity to Christianity, to the churches, 
and the religious interests of the city. 

"(i) To make religion effective and attractive in the city, and 
to apply to the work of the churches the best modern business 
principles of efi&ciency and economy." ^ 

What is planned in this programme is already being put into 
effect in a number of American cities. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Indian- 
apolis, Cleveland, Louisville, Baltimore, Detroit are but a few of 
the more conspicuous examples which could be given. In Indian- 

'Cf. "Christian Unity: Its Principles aqd Possibilities," pp. 110-12:^. 
'Op. cit., p. 119,, 



218 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

apolis, community evangelism has been carried on with increasing 
success.^ Elsewhere religious education has been stressed,^ or social 
service.^ In Atlanta, excellent work has been done in securing 
publicity for Christian interests, notably through a series of remark- 
able editorials in the Atlanta Constitution. In Dayton, provision 
is made for a worker in the juvenile courts who represents united 
Protestantism. Portland has developed a department of interna- 
tional justice and goodwill. The Chicago Federation has given 
special attention to work in public institutions. 

From the cities the movement is already beginning to extend 
to the counties and states. Massachusetts has had a state federa- 
tion for years which has rendered most effective service. Similar 
federations are found in California, Connecticut, Indiana, Ohio, 
and Pennsylvania.* Through such state federations the interests 
of the community church are being actively pushed and the two 
streams that we have thus far been studying separately have 
already joined their waters. 

In addition a movement for county federations is beginning, 
and one or two have already been established with permanent paid 
secretaries; ^ but their function still needs to be defined and their 
usefulness proved. 

More important than any specific thing the federations have 
done has been their success in creating a common consciousness 
and developing a method of procedure. Pastors who have been 
oppressed by the difiiculty of their task have been encouraged by 
the discovery that they were not working alone. Congregations 
that were facing problems they did not know how to solve have 
been helped by an exchange of experience with others who have 
been more successful. The primitive Christian conception of the 

' Detroit and Pittsburgh are also doing good work along the line of evan- 
gelism. 

^E.g., at Toledo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester, Chicago, St. Louis, Duluth, 
Portland, Oregon, Newark, and Erie. Specially significant has been the work 
done by the Toledo Federation in supervising the work of community week- 
day Bible schools. 

^E.g., at Boston, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. 

'The Ohio State Federation, in co-operation with Ohio State University, 
mamtams a two weeks' summer school for country pastors. The Connecticut 
State Federation holds a similar session in connection with the State Agri- 
cultural College. 

"E.g., Wayne County, Indiana, and Louvain County, Ohio. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 219 

church in the city has through this movement become a reality for 
multitudes of Christians. 

The federation is not simply a clearing-house of information 
within its own community ; it is a means of exchange between com- 
munity and community. Through periodic conventions experience 
is interchanged, and contacts established between the local com- 
munity and the wider movements in the nation at large. Thus the 
federation movement is increasingly a source of inspiration and 
education for all who take part in it. 

A typical example was the convention held in Cleveland in 
1920. An inspiring programme was presented covering not only 
the local problems of the different cities represented, but the larger 
aspects of the Church's task at home and abroad. Such questions 
as the responsibility of the Church for promoting a better social 
order and a more sensitive international conscience had their place 
side by side with the older and more permanent topics of evangel- 
ism and education. 

The educational possibilities of the movement were emphasized 
at a gathering of federation secretaries held at the Union Theo- 
logical Seminary in New York in June, 1921. Thirty different com- 
munities were represented, a force whose influence on the future 
development of the Church it would be difficult to over-estimate. 
In these men, met for a week of quiet study and thought on the 
greatest of all themes, the two most important movements in the 
religious life of the present were represented — ^the movement for 
Christian unity and the movement for the social application of 
the Gospel. 

But, after all, what can be done through local co-operation even 
with the best will in the world is limited. In city and country alike 
there are problems beyond the power of those on the ground. Only 
specialized study by men set apart for this purpose can adequately 
aid us here. For such specialized service, we are dependent upon 
national agencies. What these are and how they function will 
concern us in the next chapter. 



220 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

5. Consequences for the Work of the Minister— Need of a Recon- 
sideration of the Function and Responsibilities of the 

Protestant Ministry 

Before we turn to this new phase of our subject there is one 
aspect of the local situation that requires further consideration, 
and that is its bearing upon the life of the minister. We have seen 
that changes are taking place in the institution he serves. It is 
inevitable that these should have a reflex influence upon his own 
responsibility and functions. Such an influence is in fact being 
exerted, but in ways more or less unpremeditated and haphazard. 
It is worth while to consider with some care what its effects are 
likely to be. 

We have noted two tendencies in the local church, a tendency 
to enlarge the scope of its activity, and a tendency to unite with 
other churches. Little churches are coming together to form bigger 
ones and the bigger churches are doing more things and more kinds 
of things than they did before. Group enterprises are being under- 
taken and, as a result, new demands are being made upon the 
minister. He is asked to do more and he has less time to do it in. 

One may differ in one's interpretation of this situation. One 
may believe with the advocates of the institutional church that the 
tendency to expand the church's activities is likely to continue 
indefinitely. Or one may believe with the present writer that the 
present condition is a temporary one, due to causes in our social 
environment which it is the duty of the church to correct and 
remove. In either case, no intelligent observer can fail to recognize 
that this expansion of function is taking place to-day. This being 
true, the ministry must adjust itself to the change both in theory 
and in practice. 

The adjustment in practice is going on at the present time in 
many interesting ways. But the theoretical adjustment has not yet 
kept pace with the changes in practice. The minister of to-day is 
doing a great many things that his predecessor was not expected 
to do, but men's thought about him still moves in the old groove 
worn when Jonathan Edwards preached his Stockbridge sermons 
and Whitfield swept the country with the fire of his revival preach- 
ing. The contrast between the theory of the ministry and the prac- 
tical conditions in which individual ministers find themselves work- 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 221 

ing constitutes one of the greatest practical difl&culties in the way 
of the modern ministry. 

We have already considered what some of these difficulties 
are — the insecurity of tenure, the limitation of outlook, the lack of 
any adequate relation to the larger interests of the Church as a 
whole. We have traced these to their roots in the conception of the 
minister as an isolated individual dealing with other isolated groups 
which we call local churches. We have seen how this isolation 
creates the uncertainty and restlessness which we have already 
noted. The congregation does not wish to call any minister for 
whom it may be expected permanently to provide. The minister 
who feels that he is not rightly placed has no self-respecting method 
of bringing about a change. In the meantime he is asked to do all 
kinds of things for which his previous training may not have fitted 
him and the distinctive work for which he is called as a preacher 
and a pastor suffers. 

Such a conception of the minister's responsibility does not cor- 
respond with the conception of the Church to which the facts of 
modern life are forcing us. The barriers between the churches have 
been breaking down and the Church is coming to be thought of as 
a great social institution with a many-sided life, employing men 
of different talents and training who can co-operate with one an- 
other in carrying out a common plan. This corporate conception 
of the Church, long characteristic of such highly organized bodies 
as the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and the Episcopalians, is 
showing itself to be the only conception which is able to stand the 
strain of modem life. 

It is clear that such a conception of the Church requires a modi- 
fication of the earlier conception of the ministry. Either the min- 
ister in the conventional sense must add to his duties as preacher, 
pastor, and leader of worship other functions as social leader, man 
of business, and the like, or we must develop a differentiated min- 
istry in which, besides the ministers who preach and lead in wor- 
ship, men — and for that matter women — may be called to serve the 
Church as its recognized ministers who are not expected to do any 
of these things. 

This change is already taking place in the ministry of the 
foreign field. In a list of forty-three persons recently commis- 
sioned for service by one of our foreign-mission boards, only seven 



222 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

were ordained ministers.^ The others were teachers, nurses, physi- 
cians, men of business, all going out with Christian motives as 
servants of the Church to do forms of the Church's work. 

A parallel expansion of function is going on in the Church at 
home, but it has not yet resulted in any corresponding differentia- 
tion in the function of the ministry. It is true that a beginning 
has been made. The teaching ministry is beginning to differentiate 
itself from that of preaching, and the directorate of religious educa- 
tion is becoming a recognized profession. But religious education 
is only one of many functions which are being carried on in the 
modern Church. The pastoral work of the Church, too, requires 
specialized training. Boys' clubs and girls' clubs, civic forums and 
good government clubs, and all the range of social activities which 
are included in the work of a modern institutional church are so 
many opportunities for pastoral contact. Trained leaders are 
needed who share the ideals of the minister who preaches. For 
such a ministry, women as well as men may well be set apart, and 
within it differences of age and talents may find free scope. Music 
and the arts, too, will take their place in this comprehensive min- 
istry, and the organist and the choir-master be recognized as min- 
isters of religion and judged accordingly. 

Such a differentiation of the minister's duties would free the 
minister who preaches from the strain which is now put upon him 
by the multitude of his duties. It would make it possible to restore 
worship to its central place in his interest and give dignity and 
restfulness to the service of prayer and praise. Above all, it would 
make place for the older man in the ministry who is now too often 
crowded out by the younger man, not because he does not do well 
the thing he is fitted to do, but because he is expected to do other 
things which are not part of his business and which can be done 
much better by younger and differently trained men. 

To do this would be to restore to modern Protestantism the 
conception of the ministry which was prevalent in its beginning. 
In Calvin's plan for the church of Geneva four different kinds of 
minister were recognized. Besides the pastor was the elder, who 
had charge of discipline; the deacon who cared for the poor; and 
the teacher who was responsible for religious education. We need 
to revive this conception of a differentiated ministry and extend it 

^Presbyterian Advance, December 1, 1921. 



THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 223 

to fit the conditions of the modern Church. We must take the new 
activities which have grown up in the churches in voluntary and 
unofficial ways, and make a place for them as parts of our more 
formal and recognized ministry. We must release the rarer spirits 
who have the gift of preaching from other duties and give them 
the time and opportunity they need for this most important task. 

The foundation for this differentiated ministry is already laid 
in the present organization of the Church. The Congregational 
churches, including the Baptists, have their deacons as well as 
their ministers. The Presbyterians add the elder to the minister 
and the deacon. The Episcopalians and Methodists have their 
deaconesses. All denominations have their trustees who, as the 
local representatives of the congregations, hold property and rep- 
resent the churches before the courts. There is no reason why 
other officers should not be added. There is every reason why the 
existing offices should be more fully utilized, assigned larger respon- 
sibility, and, if need be, made salaried positions. 

In the larger institutional churches this is already taking place. 
A staff of paid workers is employed, including men and women. 
On the bulletin of any large city church to-day you will find 
printed beside the name of the minister the names of parish visitors 
and other church workers; but their work has not yet received full 
theoretical recognition. Their position has not yet been raised to 
the dignity of an independent and permanent life work. 

It is because the Young Men's and the Young Women's Chris- 
tian Associations provide in their secretaryships such permanent 
positions that they are attracting so many men and women who, 
if a similar opportunity were offered them, would be glad to work 
in the regular churches. The time will surely come when this lack 
will be rectified and the Church provide not only opportunity, but 
recognition for the highly trained service of which it is in need. 

For this there is need of a change in the organization of the 
Church. The forces which are bringing about unity in the local 
community must expand until they take in the Church at large. 
A good beginning has already been made. In the mission boards 
of the churches as well as in the Christian Associations the con- 
ception of a differentiated ministry functioning in the name of the 
whole Church is already accepted. What these organizations are 
doing we shall study in the chapter that follows. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 

1. The Need of Specialization in Christian Work — The Survey as 
a Condition of Effective Specialization 

We have seen that both in the smaller communities and in the 
larger cities influences are at work and problems arise which can- 
not be dealt with adequately without the assistance of specialists. 
This fact the churches are beginning to recognize, and in various 
ways they are adapting their methods to meet the new situation. 

The agencies through which the churches are addressing them- 
selves to their new responsibilities are the boards of the different 
denominations, and various voluntary societies, of which the most 
important are the two Christian Associations. To these may be 
added the Salvation Army, an organization with methods so dis- 
tinctive as to require separate consideration. 

The boards of the churches are one of the most interesting and 
instructive developments of American Protestantism, deserving far 
more study and attention than they have hitherto received. They 
are not only agencies of missionary service, but instruments of 
government adapted to the peculiar needs and ideals of Protestant- 
ism. Through its Boards of Home and Foreign Missions, a congre- 
gational church like the Baptist, jealous of the rights of the local 
congregation and repudiating with decision the claims of the Epis- 
copate in every form, is furnished with an instrumentality through 
which all its congregations can act as one, and the secretaries of 
these boards have an administrative responsibility comparable only 
to that of an archbishop. It is instructive therefore to note what 
these representatives of the churches are doing with the powers 
which have been entrusted to them. 

To deal wisely with the problems of modern missions, whether 
at home or abroad, it is necessary, first of all, to secure accurate 
knowledge of the situation to be met and, secondly, to provide the 

224 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 225 

proper agencies to meet it. The boards are doing these two things 
in ways which enlarging experience is constantly making more 
effective. 

The method used by the boards in assembling the facts that 
they need to know is known technically as a survey. A survey is 
an intensive study of a particular geographical area, such as a city, 
county, or state, with a view to discovering the religious conditions 
and needs of the people living in it, the methods used by the exist- 
ing churches in ministering to those needs and what still should be 
done to supplement or correct the Church's ministry at those points 
where it is now faulty or insufficient. Such a survey may be made 
either by the resident Christian forces or by representatives of the 
boards, or, better still, by both combined. 

The conditions of an effective survey are fhat it should be 
thorough, accurate, economical of time and money, and above all 
adapted to the purpose which it is designed to serve. It is not too 
much to say that much so-called survey work is useless or worse 
than useless, either because it is conducted by persons not suffi- 
ciently familiar with the subject to be studied to estimate cor- 
rectly what they find or because it is not so planned as to seek the 
facts that are really relevant. What is needed is not so much sta- 
tistics obtained from house-to-house visitation by persons who 
have never done such work before, as careful study of significant 
and representative areas and intelligent interpretation of the vast 
mass of statistical material already available from other surveys. 

A well-planned survey will be designed for one of two purposes: 
to determine a policy, or to inspire people to execute it. These 
two purposes, however intimately related, must be clearly distin- 
guished. The difficulty of doing this may be illustrated in the case 
of the survey undertaken by the Interchurch World Movement. 
The idea which underlay it was an admirable one — to give a com- 
prehensive picture of the world-wide task before the Church in such 
a way as to inspire the churches to discharge it adequately, and at 
the same time to furnish the information which would make that 
discharge possible. Unfortunately the pressure of time compelled 
emphasis upon the first aspect of the survey to the injury of the 
second. To provide campaign material for the drive it was neces- 
sary to have the survey material available at a certain time, and 
this necessitated such haste in the preparation of certain parts of 



/ 



226 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the work as to sacrifice much of its usefulness as information on 
which to base a trustworthy policy.^ 

The lesson so painfully learned is not likely to be forgotten. 
Most of the survey work done by our mission boards is careful, 
accurate, and intelligent. The survey is made by persons who are 
trained for the work, and after models whose usefulness has been 
tested by experience. The same is true of the work done by the 
Young Women's Christian Association.^ Some of the studies made 
by this Association have proved useful not only to churches, but 
to governments. Notable examples are the recent study of women 
in industry conducted by the Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion and published by the United States Department of Labor,' 
and the survey of the city of Prague, conducted by the same organ- 
ization at the request of the Czecho-Slovak Government.* 

The two examples just cited illustrate two different kinds of 
survey which it is important to distinguish: first, a study of some 
particular local situation which presents peculiar problems or dif- 
ficulties; second, a study of some particular problem which may 
enter into a number of different local situations but which can only 
be properly dealt with on the basis of knowledge derived from a 
comparison of all available instances. 

After securing such knowledge, the next step is to agree upon 
a policy and to provide the agencies to carry it into effect. Dr. 
Charles L. Thompson, the veteran secretary of the Presbyterian 
Board of Home Missions, was one of the first to direct the atten- 
tion of the home mission forces to the new problems before the 

^ It should be said that this criticism applies in different degrees to different 
parts of the work. Thus the educational survey assembled much information 
of permanent value which had not hitherto been accessible, and the same was 
true of the survey of rural conditions. More than a dozen publications owe 
their existence either directly or indirectly to the investigations which the 
Interchurch World Movement set on foot. Other contributions may be ex- 
pected from the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys, a voluntary 
committee formed to carry on the uncompleted work of the Survey Depart- 
ment of the Interchurch. 

" The Young Men's Christian Association, while it has conducted a number 
of investigations for special purposes, has published little material in this 
field. 

'The New Position of Women in American Industry: Bulletin of the 
Women's Bureau, No. 12, United States Department of Labor, Washington, 
D. C, 1921. 

*Cf. The Survey, June 11, 1921. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 227 

Church and to devise plans which would make it possible to deal 
with them effectively.^ 

2. Resulting Changes in Organization — The Department as an 
Agency of Specialized Service — Other Forms of Spe- 
cialization at Home and Abroad — The 
Resulting Need of Unity 

In Dr. Thompson's church, the Presbyterian, the need of spe- 
cialization was met by the creation of departments to care for par- 
ticular phases of the home-mission task, such as immigration, coun- 
try life, social service, and the like. The same practice is common 
in other denominations. Even those which have not found it advis- 
able to create separate departments have seen the importance of 
setting apart men for special forms of service and of giving them 
a training not required by the general body of workers, who are 
engaged in the more familiar tasks of evangelization and educa- 
tion which will always occupy the greater number.^ 

When the new departments were first established, the line be- 
tween the newer and older forms of work was strongly emphasized, 
but as time has passed and experience has accumulated, it has 
become apparent that the function of the new departments is not 
to relieve the other workers of responsibility for the kind of work 
the departments are doing, but rather to gain a body of knowledge 
and experience which can be shared with the Church at large so 
that all its work may become more effective. 

^ Cf . Thompson, "The Soul of America," New York, 1919. 

^The American Baptist Home Mission Society has secretaries for English- 
Speaking Missions and Indian Work; Social Service and Rural Community 
Work; City and Foreign-Speaking Missions; Education; Evangelism; as well 
as an architect secretary. 

The Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church has superintendents for the following departments: Church 
Extension; City Work; Rural Work; Frontier Work; Evangelism; Indian 
Mission Work; and directors of the following bureaus: Publicity; Foreign- 
Speaking Work; Colored Work. 

The Board of Home Missions of the Reformed Church in the U. S. has 
a superintendent for immigration. 

The Department of Missions and Church Extension of the Domestic and 
Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. A. 
is the latest national organization to appoint a secretary for work among 
Foreign-Born Americans. 

The Board of Church Extension of the American Moravian Church has a 
Country Church Commission. 



228 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

The relation between these two phases of the Church's work may 
be illustrated in connection with the board with which the author 
is most familiar, the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church in the U. S. A. Of the specialized work carried on by this 
board, the most instructive for our present purpose is that done by 
its Departments of City and Immigrant Work, of the Church and 
Country Life, and of Social Service. The first deals with the race 
question as it meets us in our great cities and industrial centres; 
the second, as its name implies, with the country church; the third 
with the questions at issue between capital and labor, and especially 
with the group of workingmen who are alienated from the Church. 

The first business of the Department of City and Immigrant 
Work has been to gain an understanding of the conditions to be met. 
This has been done by surveys of selected fields in this country, 
supplemented by special studies of the home conditions of the 
nationalities among whom work is being carried on. Through the 
offer of immigration fellowships it has been possible to send selected 
men from the seminaries for a year of study in the different coun- 
tries from which these new citizens come and thus to secure for 
them that familiarity with the language, the national traditions, 
and the social customs of various immigrant groups which is an 
indispensable condition of effective work. 

As a result of this experience the department has acquired a 
body of information which it can use in the training of workers and 
in advising the communities which ask its help as to how they can 
best deal with their own peculiar conditions. In co-operation with 
other workers in the same field it is helping to create a literature 
which makes a useful addition to our knowledge of the immigrant.^ 

Besides studying conditions and training workers, the depart- 
ment undertakes to prepare a definite plan of work for any com- 
munity that requires it. Such plans have been made for cities as 
well as for smaller communities and are being successfully put into 

*Cf. the series of racial studies prepared under the New Americans Divi- 
sion of the Interchurch World Movement, six of which are being published 
for the Home Missions Council and the Council of Women for Home Mis- 
sions by the George H. Doran Company. The studies are as follows: "The 
Czecho-Slovaks in America"; "The Russians in America"; "The Poles in 
America"; "The Italians in America"; "The Greeks in America"; "The 
Magyars in America." 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 229 

effect in many places. In a church like the Presbyterian, where 
the local presbytery is responsible for all work done within its 
boundaries and representatives of the Home Board can gain ad- 
mission only through the invitation of the presbytery, this requires 
close and friendly relations between the board and the presbytery 
which are equally advantageous to both parties. 

The final test of success is met in the fourth and last form of 
the department's work; namely, that of inspiring the home church 
to co-operate in the plans when made. In a task so great as that 
of home missions, what can be done directly by any board, even 
the strongest, is limited. The most that it can hope to do is to set 
a standard and devise methods which may commend themselves to 
the judgment and secure the support of the great mass of Christians 
everywhere. In exceptional cases, to be sure, as a temporary 
expedient, the department may assume full charge of the work of 
a definite locality; but this is not the ideal. The ideal arrange- 
ment is for the department to find a man and put him at the serv- 
ice of the local community, leaving them to work out their prob- 
lems together.^ 

What the Department of City and Immigrant Work is doing for 
the foreigner in our cities the Department of the Church and Coun- 
try Life is doing for the neglected country churches. Among the 
influences which have helped to direct popular attention to the 
serious condition of our country districts, the activity of this depart- 
ment has not been the least. It has been conducting surveys, try- 
ing experiments, publishing literature, securing recruits, preaching 
the need of a resident ministry, and demonstrating by example 
what can be done by such a ministry if it can be secured. It has 
been holding summer schools for persons interested in the country 
church ana co-operating with the agricultural colleges in imparting 

^San Francisco Presbytery is a good illustration of this kind of co-opera- 
tion. A different form is illustrated in New York City in the relation between 
the department and the Church Extension Committee of Presbytery. Here 
three different factors are. co-operating in a harmonious way — the local con- 
gregations which furnish the field and the people, the Church Extension Com- 
mittee of the Presbytery which raises the money and provides the buildings, 
the Department of Immigration which furnishes the superintendence and 
trains the workers. As a result of this co-operation a continuity is given to 
the work which could not otherwise be secured, and methods worked out 
which have been found useful in dealing with similar problems in other cities. 



230 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the information necessary to fit a minister to become not simply a 
preacher of the Gospel, but a leader in all the social and educational 
influences which centre about the church. 

An interesting indication of the success of the department's 
work is the number of requests which have come to it from pres- 
byteries that it take over a part or all of their work for a term of 
years as a sort of experiment station. Twenty-six parishes are now 
under the care of the department, and in several cases {e.g., French 
Broad Presbytery in North Carolina, Cumberland Mountain Pres- 
bytery in Tennessee, and the Southwest Bohemian Presbytery in 
Texas) the department has assumed responsibility for the entire 
work of the presbytery. But such experiments must always be 
regarded as experiments merely, which fulfil their aim in the meas- 
ure that they set a standard for the work of the Church as a whole. 

What the Presbyterian Church has been doing through the 
departments described above, other churches have been doing 
through similar agencies. As already stated, the reason for choosing 
these particular examples for illustration is not that they are more 
important or more successful than others, but simply that the author 
happens to have first-hand knowledge of the work which they are 
doing. 

Significant as a sign of the time is the interest of the churches 
in the industrial problem. This is dealt with in different ways by 
different churches. Some employ a special agency like a Social 
Service Committee; others a Department of Social Service attached 
to the Board of Home Missions. In the Presbyterian Church both 
methods have been followed, but the first has now been superseded 
by the second. 

The Rev. Charles Stelzle was a pioneer in this work. As a 
member of a labor union he keenly felt the alienation of labor 
from the Church and he worked successfully to overcome it. By 
addressing mass meetings of workingmen on religious subjects, by 
correspondence and editorials in the labor press, by instituting the 
office of fraternal delegate,^ and above all by the opening of the 
Labor Temple in New York City, he helped to direct the attention 

*A fraternal delegate is a minister who is invited to sit as corresponding 
member in a labor union, or a labor man to whom a similar courtesy is ex- 
tended by a local ministers' association. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 231 

of labor to the churches and to make workingmen realize that the 
churches were not indifferent to questions of social welfare and 
justice. 

The Labor Temple is a Presbyterian church on the corner of 
Fourteenth Street and Second Avenue, in New York City, which was 
taken over by the Church Extension Committee when its congre- 
gation was about to abandon it, and turned over to the Home 
Board to be used as an experiment station by Mr. Stelzle in his effort 
to establish a point of contact between labor and the church.^ It 
has been at work for twelve years, and it may be said with con- 
fidence that it has succeeded in fulfilling the purpose for which it 
was established. The methods used are those of the modern insti- 
tutional church: Sunday services in different languages, clubs and 
classes through the week, a settlement house with resident workers, 
public lectures on topics of public interest, and the like. Charac- 
teristic features have been the open forum where from week to 
week current industrial questions are discussed by men of different 
shades of belief, and the hospitality extended by the authorities of 
the Temple to labor unions for their private meetings. In times 
of unemployment the Temple has helped its neighbors to find 
work. In times of strike it has offered a safe place of meeting to 
young girls exposed to the temptations of the street. To a gratify- 
ing degree it has gained the confidence of the working people, as 
an exponent of a type of religion which they can understand and 
appreciate.^ 

What the Labor Temple has done in New York, other centres 
are doing with success in other cities. There is a growing disposi- 
tion on the part of the churches to hear both sides of the industrial 
question and to state the Christian position on the relation of the 
Church to industry not only in the safe seclusion of the sanctuary, 
but in open debate where the opponent can bring his objection and 
receive an answer. 

Another way in which the Church's interest in industrial ques- 
tions has been shown is through the appointment of special com- 
mittees to investigate strikes and other industrial disputes. The 
Interchurch investigation of the steel strike is the best known, but 

* The work is now under the charge of the Presbytery of New York. 
'Cf. "The Church and the City," pp. 48-64. 



232 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

by no means the only example of its kind. The action of the Con- 
gregational churches in the case of the Lawrence strike ^ and of 
the Denver churches in the case of the recent car strike in that 
city are cases in point.^ 

The serious criticism which has been passed upon the Inter- 
church steel investigation should not blind us to the importance of 
the issue at stake. If it be true that the labor question is at heart 
a moral question with which the Church as a moral teacher is nec- 
essarily concerned, it follows that the churches must have access 
to the information which will enable them to speak authoritatively 
or to know when they ought to remain silent. Such information 
it is not at present easy to obtain. A number of the denominations 
have established Social Service Commissions or Departments 
whose secretaries co-operate through the Social Service Com- 
mission of the Federal Council.^ This commission has recently 
established a Bureau of Research for the purpose of concerted 
study of industrial questions from the Christian point of view. A 
more ambitious proposal has been made by Professor Small of the 
University of Chicago, who suggests the appointment of a perma- 
nent commission of the most eminent men in the Church to investi- 
gate controversies between capital and labor from the point of 
view of the moral issues involved.* 

The cases which we have thus far cited, of immigration, country 
life, and social service, are but the most conspicuous examples of 
administrative specialization. Other illustrations which might be 
given are Sunday schools, freedmen, church erection, and temper- 
ance, all of which have their special agencies, in some cases inde- 
pendent boards, in others departments or committees. It is a fair 
question whether this division has not been carried too far. Would 
it not be better if all the work of the denominations were grouped 
in three or at most four comprehensive agencies — which might then 

*Cf. "The Causes of the Trouble in Lawrence: A Report on the Recent 
Strike," by the Rev. Charles R. Brown, D.D., 1919, The Congregationalist, 
June 5, 1919. 

^Cf. "The Denver Tramway Strike of 1920," by Edward T. Devine, Ph.D., 
Rev. John A. Ryan, D.D., and John A. Lapp, LL.D., published by the Denver 
Commission of Religious Forces, 1921. 

^E.g., Baptist, Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Episcopal, Lutheran, 
Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed. 

^Cf. A. W. Small, 'The Church and Class Coniaicts," American Journal of 
Sociology, March, 1919. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 233 

subdivide the work as experience showed to be most wise? ^ 
This is a question which is likely to be much debated in the next 
few years. However it is decided, we may be sure that the result 
reached will not mean the abandonment of specialization, but only 
the effort to guard against the dangers involved in over- 
specialization. 

What the home boards are doing for the home field, the foreign 
boards are doing for the work across the sea, the only difference 
being that in their case a single agency is responsible for a variety 
of work which in this country is distributed among many different 
agencies. The resulting problems of organization include all the 
problems of the home boards and others beside.^ Here also there is 
need of specialization in study and execution — a need intensified 
by the fact that the workers are dealing with a foreign language 
and an unfamiliar civilization. Here, too, we face the double prob- 
lem of discovering what ought to be done and of securing the means 
to do it. Here above all we find the constant demand for men and 
women competent to do what needs to be done, and with a training 
that will fit them to do it. With such responsibilities it is not 
surprising that our foreign boards have sometimes failed to realize 
their ideal. The wonder is that they have been able to do as much 
as they have done. 

In spite of the disadvantages which go with this wide exten- 
sion of responsibility, the advantages of united leadership more 
than counterbalance them. Those who are responsible for our 
foreign-missionary policy are by the nature of the case forced to 
consider the field as a whole. All the problems which at home 
are divided between different agencies — education, building, social 
service, and the like, as well as evangelism in the narrow sense — 

^ The present practice differs widely in the different communions. In some 
churches administrative responsibility is concentrated in comparatively few 
agencies, in others it is widely distributed. Thus the Board of Missions of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church includes both home and foreign missions, 
whereas the plan followed in the Presbyterian Church has separated interests 
as closely related as home missions, freedmen, church erection, and Sunday- 
school work. Other denominations uniting home and foreign missions under a 
single board are the Disciples, the Evangelical Association, the Evangelical 
Synod of North America, the Free Methodist Church of North America, and 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

^E.g., the diplomatic problems which grow out of the fact that the work 
of the foreign boards is carried on in a number of different countries, each 
with its own government and laws. 



234 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

come before them for consideration. The result is a comprehensive 
grasp of the larger problems of missionary policy. A similar con- 
centration of leadership and policy is necessary at home, to fit us 
to deal suitably with such perplexing questions as, for example, the 
supply of the ministry. 

So far we have been speaking of the work done by the men's 
boards. But we must never forget that this is only a part of the 
specialized work which the Church is doing through its official 
agencies. The women also have their boards of home and foreign 
missions. The question arises whether the present division of admin- 
istrative responsibility between men and women is a wise one and, 
if so, whether the present line of division is rightly drawn. As a 
matter of fact, there is no consistent principle followed in the 
existing division of responsibility. In some cases, as in the Board 
of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, men and 
women sit together in a single board which has complete charge 
of the church's missionary work. In others, as in the case of the 
Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in 
the U. S. A., the women assume responsibility for the administra- 
tion of a special branch of the work — in this case schools and hos- 
pitals. In still others, as in the Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions of the same church, the woman's board has been a money- 
raising organ for the men's board, all the responsibility for admin- 
istration being concentrated in that agency. It does not seem 
likely that the latter arrangement will prove permanently satis- 
factory. With the growing self-consciousness of women they are 
certain to demand and to receive complete administrative respon- 
sibility for their missionary enterprises, and if this is granted it 
will be increasingly difiicult to draw the line between the spheres 
in which each sex is to function independently. Some unified plan 
of missionary administration including both men and women seems 
to be the goal toward which we are moving.^ 

As we study all these interests we are constantly reminded of 
the central importance of sound methods of education. The 
boards are not simply agents to carry out the will of the churches; 
they are in a very real sense teachers of the Church as to what 
ought to be done. Much of their energy is spent in preparing 
informational literature and in bringing home to the consciences 
of their constituency facts regarding the needs of their field by 
*Cf. p. 253. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 235 

means of the spoken voice. This work is so important and difficult 
that they are unable to do it full justice alone and have created 
to assist them special agencies like the Board of Missionary Prepa- 
ration.^ 

We are thus brought to the most fundamental of all the tasks 
of the Church, upon the successful performance of which all the 
others depend — the task of Christian education. There are many 
different agencies operating in this field. These agencies are of 
three kinds: (1) those which have to do with the Sunday school; 
(2) those which are concerned with students in educational insti- 
tutions — schools, colleges, and universities; (3) those which are 
responsible for recruiting and training the ministry. In addition 
should be mentioned the promoting agencies which serve all alike.^ 
The relations between these bodies and the resulting problems of 
unity, both within the denomination and without, will later claim our 
attention. 

3. Agencies for Interdenominational Administrative Unity — The 
Home Missions Council and the Foreign Missions Confer- 
ence — Corresponding Agencies in the Field of 
Christian Education. 

A survey of the organizations through which the churches are 
trying to meet specific tasks makes it clear that it is impossible 
for them to work well in isolation. Denominational agencies are 
already co-operating in various ways and are creating the necessary 
and appropriate machinery. The term '^administrative union" has 
come to be used to describe such official co-operation. 

The missionary agencies of the churches are united in the 
Home Missions Council and the Foreign Missions Conference of 

^The Board of Missionary Preparation was founded in 1911 as a result of 
a recommendation of the Continuation Committee of the World Conference 
of 1910, to secure the most adequate kind and quality of preparation for those 
who are training for foreign-missionary service. It is appointed by, and 
responsible to, the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, the official 
agency through which the foreign-missionary boards of the United States and 
Canada co-operate. 

On the educational work of the home-missionary agencies, cf, p. 237. The 
most important part of this is done through the Council of Women for Home 
Missions, which has prepared a series of textbooks for mission-study classes 
which are used by all the co-operating denominations. Cf. also p. 228. 

^ Of these the most important are the Boards of Publication which print 
the literature which the other boards require for the prosecution of their 
work. 



236 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

North America, both of which are official bodies, representing and 
financed by the co-operating boards,^ maintaining their own offices 
and paid secretaries, meeting annually for the discharge of busi- 
ness, and functioning in the interim through committees appointed 
for that purpose. With these should be associated the Council of 
Women for Home Missions, and the Federation of Woman's Boards 
of Foreign Missions of North America. 

The Foreign Missions Conference of North America includes 
all the foreign-missionary societies in the United States and Canada. 
It meets once a year for the discussion of common problems, and 
in the course of its history has succeeded in bringing about a no- 
table spirit of unity and sympathy between the responsible heads of 
the Church's missionary enterprise. It has its permanent office and 
paid secretaries and functions during the intervals of its stated 
meetings through a committee of twenty-eight persons called the 
Committee of Reference and Counsel.^ 

It has been the practice of the Conference not to initiate work 
except at the request of some of its constituent boards, and then 
only with the approval of the other members. In the course of 
its history it has done a number of important and significant pieces 
of work, among which may be mentioned the recent study of rural 
education in India ^ and the comprehensive investigation of mis- 
sionary education in Africa and in China.* In these studies it has 
co-operated with the missionary agencies of other countries in 
establishing standards which will affect the work of missions as a 
whole. 

In addition to its educational work and its function as a 
clearing-house of information, the Foreign Missions Conference has 
been able to deal with a number of difficult and perplexing ques- 
tions which no single missionary board would have been able to 

^This is true wholly of the Home Missions Council. In the case of the 
Foreign Missions Conference, the contributions of the boards are supple- 
mented by private gifts. 

^The permanent office of the Committee of Reference and Counsel of the 
Foreign Missions Conference of North America is in New York. Mr. Fennell 
P. Turner and the Rev, Frank W. Bible are its secretaries, 

'Cf. "Village Education in India: Report of a Commission of Inquiry," 
New York, 1920. 

* The results of these investigations are now being published by the Foreign 
Missions Conference of North America under the titles, ''Report of the Africa 
Educational Commission" and ''Report of the China Educational Commis- 
sion." 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 237 

cope with alone. It has provided an agency through which the 
missionary forces could approach the government of the United 
States as well as the governments of other countries in connection 
with the many problems which affect the missionary interests in the 
countries in which the boards are at work. 

The organization of the Home Missions Council is similar, 
except that it does not include all the Canadian Home Mission 
Societies.^ - Thirty-six home-missionary organizations are repre- 
sented in its membership. It has its office in New York and main- 
tains a considerable office staff.^ During the earlier years of its 
history the Home Missions Council was primarily a consultative 
body and was concerned with matters of comity between the de- 
nominations. But in recent years it has begun to assume a much 
larger measure of responsibility and is now functioning actively 
through a number of special committees which deal with such sub- 
jects as Alaska, Indian missions, migrant groups, Negro Ameri- 
cans, new Americans, Spanish-speaking peoples, comity and co- 
operation, etc.^ 

The organization and function of the women's boards are similar 
to those of the men. The Council of Women for Home Missions 
includes nineteen constituent, twelve affiliated, and five co-operat- 
ing agencies and makes a specialty of publishing mission textbooks. 
The Home Missions Council and the Council of Women for Home 
Missions have offices side by side. They have joint committees 
dealing with almost every phase of home-mission work. They 
publish literature together. They make a joint annual report and 
use a common letterhead. Financial appropriations are frequently 
made by one to the other. The annual meetings of the two Coun- 
cils are held at the same time and place and many of the sessions 
are joint sessions. 

In the foreign-missionary field the relation between the men's 

*At present two Canadian boards are members, the Board of Home Mis- 
sions and Social Service of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Mis- 
sionary Society of the Methodist Church in Canada. 

^Rev. Alfred Williams Anthony, D.D., is secretary, and the Rev. Rodney 
W. Roundy, associate secretary. 

'There are no less than eighteen joint committees at present maintained 
by the Home Missions Council and the Council of Women for Home Mis- 
sions. These committees not only include members of the constituent bodies, 
but other co-opted members whose services are desired. In this way the 
co-operation of representatives of the Christian Associations is secured in the 
fields where they are at work. 



238 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

and women's organizations is even closer. In this case the women's 
societies have equal representation with the men's in the Foreign 
Missions Conference as well as upon all its committees. The same 
is true of the Young Women's Christian Association. The Federa- 
tion of Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions of North America 
brings together the representatives of the women's foreign-mission- 
ary boards for purposes of consultation on matters of common 
interest/ but the representation of the individual boards in the 
Foreign Missions Conference is independent of their relation to 
the women's organization.^ 

It has been the policy both of the Home Missions Council and 
of the Foreign Missions Conference to proceed slowly and not to 
seek executive responsibility. As the names indicate, they have 
been primarily bodies for conference and counsel. Including as 
they do representatives of churches of very different views, they 
have hesitated to do anything which might alienate any part of 
their constituency. As is so often the case, the body that goes 
slowest tends to set the pace for the rest. Under the circumstances, 
the policy followed has probably been a wise one, and the attempt 
to assume executive functions would have been premature. 

At the same time this caution has not been without its draw- 
backs. Had the Home Missions Council and the Foreign Missions 
Conference been in a position to assume more active executive 
responsibility, the Interchurch World Movement might have taken 
a different form and its worst dangers and evils have been avoided. 
In theory, as we have seen, the Interchurch World Movement was 
a movement for administrative union which is just what these 
bodies are designed to promote. As it was, instead of beginning 
with these bodies and using their experience and agencies as the 
nucleus for expansion, a start was made from a completely new 
centre, with a corresponding loss of energy and prestige. 

In the case of the Foreign Missions Conference, this failure has 
been less serious than in the case of the Home Missions Council, 
because in the various continuation committees ^ the Boards of 

^E.g., on such matters as recruiting for missionary service, the support of 
union women's colleges in the foreign field, etc. 

" Where the women's boards are separate organizations, they appoint their 
own delegates. Where men and women are working together in a single 
organization, the representatives are appointed by the unified denominational 
agency. 

' Cf . p. 53. 



•- • 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 239 

Foreign Missions had a provisional organization through which 
they could function in the field.^ In general it may be said that 
as between the home and foreign mission interests, the conscious- 
ness of unity is more highly developed in the latter than in the 
former. This is due no doubt in part to the greater pressure of 
need in the foreign field, but also in no small measure to the fact 
that the foreign boards, operating at a distance from the home base, 
are more independent of their constituency than those boards which 
are dealing at firsthand with the local churches from which the 
bulk of their support is drawn. A further difficulty in the way 
of securing unity at home is due to the fact that the agencies unit- 
ing in the Home Missions Council are not only more numerous, but 
represent a much wider distribution of authority and overlapping 
of activities.^ 

But the difference is, after all, only one of degree. Both in the 
foreign field and in the home field we need to strengthen and dig- 
nify the existing organs of unity. Much will depend for the future 
of the Christian Church upon whether the gap left vacant by the 
Interchurch shall be filled by the development of the agencies we 
already have, or whether a new agency must be created. For it 
seems clear that some responsible interdenominational body is 
needed that can not only think but act on behalf of the churches. 

Such a central executive body is needed in the home field not 
only to do the things which the experience of the boards shows to 
be desirable, but because of its reflex influence upon the local 
church. We have seen that the community church movement faces 
difiiculties because of the lack of a common outlet for its mission- 
ary zeal. Either it must divide its contributions between the 
denominations, or all its gifts must go to one. If the denominations 
themselves maintained a single responsible agency through which 
interdenominational work was being carried on on behalf of all, 
this difiiculty would be removed. There would be an object, equally 
dear to all, to which all could give, and the union which the com- 
munity church illustrates at the bottom would be matched at the 
top. 

It is gratifying to know that distinct progress is being made 
toward realizing this end. In a number of different fields the work 

*A significant step toward such an organization in the home field is the 
recent organization of the Home Missions Council of Montana. 
' Cf. "Report of the Home Missions Council," 1921, pp. 254, 255. 



240 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of the denominations has already been unified by the Home Mis- 
sions Council. Conspicuous among these are the work in Alaska, 
for the Indians, at Ellis Island, and in the field of foreign-language 
publications.^ We have elsewhere referred to the admirable work 
done by the Council in Montana in unifying the home-missionary 
agencies of that state. The same is true to a less degree in Utah 
and in Colorado. Much progress has been made toward unifying 
the work for Mexicans and for Negroes, and a promising beginning 
has been made in co-ordinating the recruiting activities of the vari- 
ous denominations. 

The same influences which are bringing the home and foreign- 
missionary agencies together are operating in the field of religious 
education, and in all three of the different spheres to which we have 
already referred. The Sunday-school workers have had no less 
than five different interdenominational associations — the Interna- 
tional Sunday School Association, the Sunday School Council of 
Evangelical Denominations, the American Sunday-School Union,^ 
the International Sunday School Lesson Committee, and the World's 
Sunday School Association, of which the second (the Sunday School 
Council) consists of the official Sunday-school agencies of the 
denominations. Negotiations have just been completed for a union 
between the Sunday School Council and the International Sunday 
School Association, which have combined to form the International 
Sunday School Council of Religious Education. In the Council of 
Church Boards of Education the workers in the cause of religious 
education in colleges have an effective organization.^ Most re- 
cently the theological seminaries of the country have formed a 
conference,* meeting biennially, which furnishes a convenient means 
for the interchange of opinion among those who are working 
in this responsible field. Besides these larger and better known 
agencies there are a number of other associations and committees 

^ The Joint Committee on Foreign Language Publications under the Home 
Missions Council is planning the joint publication of one strong periodical 
for each language group and the production of a series of tracts which can be 
used by any denomination under its own imprint. 

^The American Sunday-School Union differs from the others in that it is 
not an educational but a promoting agency. Strictly speaking, therefore, it 
should be classified either with the Home Missions Council or with the volun- 
tary societies like the Christian Associations that administer as well as teach. 

"Cf. Christian Education, January, 1922, "What the Council of Church 
Boards of Education is Doing." 

*Cf. pp. 322, 323. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 241 

dealing with some specialized form of religious education, such as 
the associations of college pastors in state universities and of Bibli- 
cal instructors in colleges and universities. In all no less than 
fourteen interdenominational or undenominational agencies are 
functioning in the field of religious education.^ 

All these are distinctly religious organizations. Besides these 
are the secular educational institutions of the country, our schools 
our colleges, and our universities, with the various societies and 
associations through which they function. Many of these are 
governed and taught by Christian men and women who share with 
us our interest in the moral and spiritual issues at stake. No pro- 
gramme of Christian education can be adequate which fails to 
utilize their experience and to enlist their active co-operation. If 
religion be the central and all-important fact that we believe it to 
be, we shall never fully accomplish our aim until this fact is recog- 
nized in the secular teaching which forms the thinking of the most 
influential leaders of the modern world. 

There is thus no lack of agencies at our disposal through which 
to carry out our campaign of education, if our forces are properly 
unified and co-ordinated. 

An invaluable pioneer work in the way of co-ordination has 
been done by the Religious Education Association, a voluntary 
society including not only Protestants, but Roman Catholics and 
Jews. Through this association the field has been mapped out 
and some of the outstanding desiderata charted.^ More recently 
'The International Sunday School Council of Religious Education the 
Council of Church Boards of Education, the International Sunday School 'Les- 
son Committee, the American Sunday-School Union, the World's Sunday 
School Association, the Religious Education Association, the Missionary Edu- 
cation Movement, the International Committee of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Associations, the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciations, the Board of Missionary Preparation, the Conference of Theological 
Seminaries, the Association of Biblical Instructors in American Colleges and 
Secondary Schools, the Conference of Church Workers in Universities, the 
United Society of Christian Endeavor, the International Association of Daily 
Vacation Bible Schools. 

_ == During the twenty years of its existence, the Religious Education Asso- 
ciation has gathered those who have been interested in this subject for peri- 
odical conferences. It has impressed church leaders and teachers with a new 
and deeper sense of the need and value of religious education. It has enlisted 
scientific educators in the task of religious education and broadened the popu- 
lar conception so as to include vital and social processes as well as formal 
mstruction. It has developed a professional group in its field pointed the 
way to new and better methods, and secured the co-operation of persons of 



242 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the attempt has been made to create a permanent organization of 
the various interdenominational agencies that represent organized 
Protestantism. At the suggestion of all the bodies concerned tKe 
Federal Council called a conference of the representatives of these 
agencies to consider the needs of the field as a whole. This con- 
ference met at Garden City on May 12-14, 1921, and appointed a 
Continuation Committee to effect a permanent organization. In 
the meantime this committee was given authority to provide for 
such preliminary committees as seemed called for. At the request 
of the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, the Con- 
tinuation Committee has assumed the responsibility for bringing 
out the projected volume on "The Teaching Work of the Church," 
to which reference has already been made. In this volume it is 
hoped to give a bird's-eye view of the entire field of Christian 
education, to point out the problems which need to be solved and 
the agencies which are at work on their solution, and to suggest 
the most important lines of progress for the immediate future. 

4. Voluntary Agencies for Specialized Service — The History and 

Expanding Work of the Christian Associations — Problems 

Confronting the Associations To-day 

No study of the co-operative movement would be complete 
without some account of the voluntary societies through which 
Christians of different denominations are working together in unof- 
ficial but none the less effective ways. They deal with many dif- 
ferent phases of Christian activity. Among the best known are the 
American Bible Society, the American Sunday-School Union, the 
Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian 
Association, the American Tract Society, the Young People's So- 
ciety of Christian Endeavor, the Anti-Saloon League, the Women's 
Christian Temperance Union, and the American Sabbath Associa- 
tion. The Bible Society is officially recognized by most of the 
churches. The Temperance and Sabbath Associations have re- 
ceived the endorsement of many of them. Together they consti- 

all sects, faiths, and communions. It has published about 15,000 pages of 
material, held hundreds of conventions and conferences, conducted surveys, 
promoted experiments, established standards, and brought about co-operation. 
It conducts a bureau of information, a reference library, a personnel bureau, 
and a clearing-house of activities. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 243 

tute one of the most characteristic expressions of American Protes- 
tantism.^ 

The two Christian Associations will serve as illustrations. Of 
all the voluntary societies of Protestantism they most nearly paral- 
lel the work of the churches. Other organizations deal with some 
particular phase of Christian service, such as education or missions, 
but in the Associations the only restriction is that of age and sex.^ 
Whatever can be done to help young men or young women, whether 
along physical, intellectual, social, or religious lines, comes within 
their scope. Geographically, too, their service has no boundary. 
Like the churches, they work in the foreign field as well as at 
home. In the course of their work they meet all the specialized 
problems we have been considering. It is instructive, therefore, to 
learn how they are dealing with them and what relation their work 
bears to that of the agencies already described. 

The Young Men's Christian Association began as a highly 
specialized and thoroughly democratic institution. It was an asso- 
ciation of Christian laymen who had banded themselves together 
to work for young men; or rather, it was a group of associations. 
The central organization that we now know as the International 
Committee came into existence later and its relation to the co- 
operating associations which form its constituency has been pro- 
gressively defined as a result of enlarging experience.^ 

The history of the Association has been marked by three fea- 
tures: (1) an enlarging programme; (2) increased resources, both 
financial and personal; (3) a growing tendency to extend its work 
along lines which parallel the work of the denominational boards. 
The programme of the Association includes, as is well known, 
social and educational as well as religious features. It does for 
the young men and boys who are its members what the institutional 

*Cf. Willett, "Undenominational Movements in the United States" in 
"Christian Unity," pp. 258-283. 

"Originally interested mainly in evangelistic and social work, they have 
added educational and physical features, a field in which they have antici- 
pated much that the churches are now doing. 

'On the history of the Y. M. C. A., cf. R. C. Morse, "My Life with Young 
Men: Fifty Years in the Young Men's Christian Association," New York, 
1918; Year Book of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North 
America, New York, 1920; Summary of the World War Work of the American 
y. M. C. A., New York, 1920. 



244 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

church tries to do for all the people in its neighborhood.^ In addi- 
tion the Association has been led by a natural and entirely legiti- 
mate process to do other things which do not concern young men 
and boys simply, but have to do with the welfare of the community 
for which it works or the group of people whom it serves. Thus 
the city work of the Association has led it to gather representatives 
of the churches for conference on civic betterment. Its county 
work has made it necessary to work for women as well as men. 
In local communities where the church was recreant to its duty the 
Association has found itself forced to make up for this lack by 
ministering to the family. On the foreign field especially the rela- 
tion between the Association and the churches has been especially 
close, and while scrupulously observing its charter as an agency of 
the churches, not as a rival denomination, it has yet been doing 
things which in other places the missionaries are doing themselves. 
As a result, the line of demarcation between the sphere of the official 
and voluntary agencies has become increasingly difficult to 
discern. 

This is especially evident in the field of publication and religious 
education. Through its press and its Bible class work, the Associa- 
tion has entered a field which is of the highest importance to the 
churches, and the need of a correlation of programme and a defini- 
tion of responsibility becomes increasingly apparent.^ 

What is true of the Young Men's Christian Association appHes 
to a less but still to an appreciable degree to the Young Women's 
Christian Association.^ Beginning in a restricted sphere, this 
Association has also been led to extend its activities and to enter 
fields in which other agencies of the Church were already at work. 
Like the Young Men's Christian Association, it begins to parallel 
the work of the Church both at home and abroad. Some definition 
of its relation to the official women's agencies of the churches as 

^ Of its million members, over twenty per cent, are boys in their teens. 

^An interesting experiment in co-ordination is being tried under the aus- 
pices of the Council of Church Boards of Education through the so-called 
Geneva plan — a plan through which the official representatives of the churches 
co-operate with the Association in presenting the appeal of the various forms 
of church work to the students gathered at the summer conferences of the 
Association. 

^Cf. Wilson, "Fifty Years of Association Work"; cf. also the Handbook of 
the Young Women's Christian Association Movement, 1916; Report of the 
War Work Council of the Young Women's Christian Associations from 1917- 
1919. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 245 

well as to the Church as a whole seems therefore a desider- 
atum.^ 

The problems thus briefly suggested have been accentuated for 
both Associations by the war. The war proved that in these organ- 
izations the Church possessed auxiliaries of the highest value, but 
it showed also the need of defining the sphere in which each was 
to work and the limits of its responsibility. We must find answers 
to such questions as these: How far are the Associations, as at pres- 
ent organized, prepared to do the work which they are actually 
doing? How far do they need changes in their theoretical basis 
and methods of administration? What should be the relation of 
the Associations to each other? Is the present policy of independ- 
ence a good one; or has the time come for a merger or, if not, for 
some supplementary organization including both men and women 
and operating with the family as its basis? What is the relation 
of the Associations to the churches? Is the present state of inde- 
pendence still desirable, and if so how can we secure that thorough 
co-operation of all the Christian forces which the Interchurch 
World Movement tried to bring about and which is needed now 
more than ever? 

The question how far the Associations as at present organized 
are fitted to do the work which they have set themselves to do is 
one which primarily concerns the Associations themselves, and in- 
volves matters of detail which it would be manifestly impossible, 
even if it were proper, to discuss here. But the central question is 
one of general interest, for it has to do with principles which apply 
to the denominations as well. That question is this: How far can 
executive responsibility of the magnitude and importance of that 
now exercised by the Associations be wisely assumed by a group of 
independent and self-governing bodies like the local associations 
which meet in convention only once every two or three years? 
What authority shall attach to the central body appointed by this 
convention to act for it during the interval between conventions? 
In what ways shall this body keep in touch with its constituency 

^In two respects the Young Women's Christian Association is doing im- 
portant pioneer work of special value for the churches. In its training school 
for secretaries it is working out methods for the training of women workers 
which deserve careful study by those who are responsible for the training of 
such workers in other fields. In the vexed field of industrial relations it is 
conducting studies and establishing relations that are full of promise for the 
future. 



246 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

and to what extent should it feel free to act on its own responsibility 
in initiating changes in policy which may seem necessary to meet 
some unforeseen emergency? In view of the important questions 
of principle to be determined by the Associations, such questions 
as their future industrial policy or the religious basis of their mem- 
bership, it is essential that the question of primary responsibility 
should be clearly defined. 

Other questions which press for a solution concern the relation 
of the Associations to each other. During the war the Young 
Men's Christian Association employed women workers. Are they 
still to do so now that peace has come? In many communities the 
Young Men's Christian Association find women for whom no work 
is being done by women. Are they to neglect them or shall they 
broaden the basis of their appeal? So in the war the Young 
Women's Christian Association opened Hostess Houses in the camps 
which, while primarily designed for the wives and sisters of the 
soldiers, helped to keep up the morale of the men as well. Are they 
to do similar work in peace? Have they a ministry to men as well 
as to women? 

The question becomes acute in smaller communities where the 
number of the population does not justify specialized work either 
for men or women. What is to be done here? Some inclusive 
organization seems called for which, operating on the same prin- 
ciples as the Associations but with the family as its unit, can co- 
operate with the local church in bringing to the community every 
form of helpful influence.^ The question is at least worth raising 
whether the time has not come for such an inclusive organization. 
If we decide that it is needed, the further question arises how it 
shall be constituted. Shall it be formed by the union of the pres- 
ent Associations or, if this seems inexpedient, can some larger body 
be created in which both Associations and churches shall be repre- 
sented to map out the field as a whole and delegate to each agency 
the task which it is best fitted to discharge? 

The experience of the Salvation Army is a case in point. The 
army is an agency in many respects like the Associations, although 
governed in a more autocratic way. It specializes in ministry to 
the outcast and the submerged, but makes no distinction of sex. 

*It is interesting to note that in some counties (e.g., Nassau and Suffolk 
Counties, Long Island) the two Associations are already co-operating along 
the lines suggested in the text. 



THE CHURCH SPECIALIZING FOR SERVICE 247 

Its unit is the family, and this is true not only of those for whom 
it works, but of the workers as well. In the army there is complete 
equality of the sexes. Men and women work side by side; and a 
woman may command as well as a man. In the Salvation Army 
we see the Roman Catholic conception of a monastic order joined 
to the Protestant principle of the family. It is worth considering 
whether the method thus followed is not capable of wider adapta- 
tion; whether in ways more democratic, but no less effective, it 
may not be possible to utilize the immense spiritual resources of 
America, its womanhood as well as its manhood, for a constructive, 
nation-wide work that shall translate the dream of the Interchurch 
World Movement into a reality. 

This leads us to the last of the questions concerning the future 
of the Associations; namely, that which has to do with their rela- 
tion to the churches. At present that relation is an anomalous 
one.^ It is their wish to be auxiliaries of the churches, not rival 
denominations. Yet they are entirely independent and self-direct- 
ing. Unlike the orders in Roman Catholicism which give us our 
nearest parallel, there is no central authority to which they owe 
allegiance. Whatever adjustment there may be between them and 
the official church agencies must be voluntary. Several possibili- 
ties suggest themselves. The churches may be given the right to 
appoint representatives on the governing boards of the Associations 
as has been proposed by the National Council of the Scottish 
Y. M. C. A. to the Presbyterian churches of Scotland.^ Or there 
may be stated conferences at which policies are agreed upon and 
spheres of influence defined.^ Or some larger inclusive body may 

J This fact has been recognized by the Young Men's Ghristian Association 
which at Its convention in Detroit in 1919 authorized the International Com- 
B^ittee to appoint a commission to enter into negotiations with the leading 
evangelical denominations for a careful study of the relations obtaining be- 
tween the evangelical churches and the Association. Cf. the Report of the 
Commission on the Relation of the Young Men's Christian Association to 
the^ Churches; also "Christian Unity," pp. 126-132, esp. p. 132 

"For the details of this proposal cf . the Statement of Progress made toward 
a Closer Relationship and Co-operation between the Young Men's Christian 
Association and the Churches in Scotland, by the Church and Y M C A 
Relationship Committee, Edinburgh, 1921. 

' Opportunities for such conference are now furnished by the presence of 
representatives of the two Associations as consulting members of the Admin- 
istrative Committee of the Federal Council, of which a fuller account will be 
given m the next chapter A representative of the Y. M. C. A. is an honorary 
member of the Home Missions Council and several of its secretaries are 



248 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

be created in which both may be included, in which executive as 
well as advisory powers can be centred and which would represent 
the Church as a whole. 

Whatever the final adjustment may be, it must be such as to 
conserve the freedom and initiative of the Associations. In an 
enterprise as many-sided as that of the Christian Church, it is 
never possible to move the whole body as fast as it ought to go. 
There must always be pioneers who go before and map out the 
course. To these must be accorded the freedom to experiment in 
new fields. Such pioneers the Associations have been, and they 
will be truest to themselves if they keep to this conception of their 
task. Much that they were once doing alone is now being done as 
well or better by the churches. Where this is true let them be glad 
and count it the highest proof of their success. There are broad 
fields still unoccupied in which the kind of service the Associations 
can render was never more needed than to-day. In entering these 
fields the Associations will find opportunity for an enlarging min- 
istry. Only let it be clearly understood on both sides what these 
fields are, and as they move forward may it be not as rivals but 
as allies of the churches. 

An indispensable condition of any satisfactory adjustment is 
that the churches themselves should come together. With a 
divided Church it is impossible for bodies as strong as the Associa- 
tions to deal. Hence we are led inevitably to the third and last 
branch of our practical inquiry ; namely, what the churches in their 
corporate capacity are doing to realize their union with one another. 

members of the sub-committees of that body. The Y. W. C. A. as a con- 
sulting body is a member of the Council of Women for Home Missions and 
representatives of the Y. W. C. A. serve on the committees both of the Home 
Missions Council and of the Council of Women for Home Missions, as well 
as on the joint committees of the two bodies. Both the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association are constitu- 
ent members of the Foreign Missions Conference and their representatives 
are eligible for service on its various committees. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 

1. Obstacles to Christian Unity Presented by the Existing 
Situation in the Denominations 

By whatever road we have travelled we have been led to the 
same conclusion, that the chance of the Church's becoming what it 
ought to be depends upon the churches getting together. We have 
seen this in connection with our study of the local congregation. V 

We have seen it in connection with the administrative work of the 
churches as carried on by their official boards. We have seen it 
finally in connection with the relation between the churches and 
the Associations. In each case the attempt to secure effective co- 
operation meets obstacles which can only be overcome by the 
united action of the denominations as a whole. This is the situa- 
tion which the movement for unity in its inclusive form is designed 
to meet. 

This movement, as we have seen, encounters an unexpected dif- 
ficulty. It is the difficulty of the lack of unity within the denomi- 
nations themselves. Even if they wished to unite, they are not in 
a position to do so effectively, for they have not yet devised the 
agencies through which they can put the will to unity into practice. 

This weakness in denominational organization appears both in 
the nature of the governing bodies, and in that of the intermediate 
divisions through which these bodies function. 

There is great variety in the method by which the different 
churches are governed. In some the affairs of the church are cared 
for by a General Council or Convention, meeting only once in three 
or four years; in others the supreme judicatory meets annually. 
In some it consists of two houses, as of bishops and lay delegates. 
In others it is a single assembly. In some it commands large 
powers, and can act on its own initiative. In others these powers 
are strictly limited by the necessity of reference to the congrega- 
tions represented. In some this representation is immediate and 

249 



250 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

all churches have a right to send or at least to vote for delegates. 
In others the representation is mediate, through presbytery, classis, 
or diocese. But in each case the power to act for the denomina- 
tion as a whole is confined to the highest body, and during the 
period between the sessions of this body this power is correspond- 
ingly limited. 

This difficulty, as we have seen, was keenly felt during the war. 
In the case of those churches whose supreme body did not meet in 
1917, various devices had to be resorted to. Agencies of the Church 
designed for different purposes were forced to act to meet the 
emergency. Others were created by voluntary action in the hope 
that what they did would be ratified later. The same causes 
which made it desirable for the churches to be able to act promptly 
during the war are operative in peace, and their inability so to act 
has similar disastrous consequences. 

It may be said indeed that this need of a permanent executive 
is supplied by the various boards and other agencies whose work 
we have described. Up to a certain point this is true. But these 
boards are strictly limited by their charters to specific tasks. They 
have no power to assume new responsibility. In the division of 
powers between them many promising opportunities go unutilized. 
What is needed is some permanent body inclusive of the different 
interests which can be clothed with the full powers of the denomi- 
nation, and can act in its name during the interval between con- 
ventions or assemblies. The Christian Associations, facing a similar 
problem, have created such central bodies in the International 
Committee and the National Board. The churches have no cor- 
responding central executive authority, and this lack is one of the 
most serious obstacles to effective Christian union.^ 

Apart from the limitations thus put upon the ability of the 
churches to co-operate effectively, there are various ways in which 
the lack of such a central executive body limits the efficiency of 
the denominations themselves. It makes impossible any compre- 
hensive plan for the location or merging of churches. It leaves the 

^This is true not only at home but on the foreign field. A more serious 
obstacle to union even than the presence of separate denominations working 
side by side is the existence of a number of independent local committees 
within the same denomination without any central executive competent to 
speak for the mission as a whole. One of the most encouraging steps toward 
unity on the foreign field has been the progress which has beeij ?:iade toward 
linifying the different missions within each denomination. 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 251 

individual minister at the mercy of the local congregation; or at 
best of the intermediate ecclesiastical body of which the congrega- 
tion is a constituent part. It leaves the church theoretically one, 
but without any agency through which to realize its unity in prac- 
tice. It is as though Congress tried to run the government with- 
out any executive and then decided to meet only once in two or 
three years, and never for more than a week or ten days. 

In more- highly organized churches like the Presbyterian and 
Episcopal, these difficulties are partially overcome by the existence 
of intermediate units like the presbytery or the diocese. In theory 
it is the duty of the presbytery as it is of the bishop to care for 
the churches within a definite geographical area; but apart from 
the fact that the power thus theoretically given is often unused or 
used ineffectively, the plan makes no provision for securing unity 
of action between the executives of the intermediate units. One 
bishop may pursue a policy in his diocese which is diametrically 
opposed to that of his neighbor in the next. The existence of a 
strong, well-organized presbytery or classis is no guarantee at all 
that its neighbor's presbyterial duty of supervision will not be 
altogether neglected. In the Methodist Church alone, through its 
system of rotation in office, an administrative policy is possible on 
a truly national scale, and even here the power of the church to 
initiate radical change is limited by the infrequency of the meet- 
ings of the General Conference. 

Serious as is the weakness of the present system on its admin- 
istrative side, its failure as an educational agency is even more 
serious. In the Protestant Church, no central executive authority 
can impose its will from without. The Church as a whole can do 
only what its constituent members determine shall be done, and for 
this there must be a common public opinion formed by intelligent 
discussion in the light of all the facts in the case. 

At no other point is the weakness of our present denominational 
system more apparent. There exist no adequate organs for the 
formation of public opinion on the questions which concern the 
denomination as a whole, nor is it likely that this need will be 
supplied until a central body is established charged with responsi- 
bility for the affairs of the entire denomination and obliged, 
therefore, to consult its constituency as to what the denomination 
shall do. 

The larger denominations are beginning to realize the disad- 



252 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

vantages of the present state of affairs, and various attempts are 
being made to secure the needed unity. Among them may be men- 
tioned the denominational forward movements to which we have 
already referred, such as the Presbyterian New Era, the Methodist 
Centenary, the Baptist New World Movement, and the like.^ 
These movements, like the Interchurch World Movement, have 
limited powers and are concerned more with raising money for the 
churches than with spending it. Still they have proved useful in 
developing the sense of denominational responsibility and unity, 
and may well serve to prepare the way for something better. 

A characteristic feature of these denominational forward move- 
ments has been the attention given to education in denominational 
responsibility. A campaign has been carried on in the different 
churches, not in the interest of any particular board or agency, but 
of the work of the Church as a whole. Literature has been created 
and thought has been stimulated; and while mistakes have been 
made which larger experience might have avoided, there can be 
little doubt that the net result has been good. 

A second method of securing the needed unification is through 
the creation of a central Executive Committee to represent and act 
for the denomination between conventions. Thus the Episcopal 
Church has its presiding Bishop and Council; the Presbyterian 
Church its Executive Conmiission; the Lutherans their Executive 
Board; the Baptists their Board of Promotion, and so forth.^ These 
are useful additions to the machinery of the Church. But they are 
weak in two respects. They do not include all the men most impor- 
tant for determining the Church's policy; they lack the requisite 
power to act effectively in matters of consequence. 

^ Cf . p. 120. . . 

'The ad interim committees of the various larger denommations are as 
follows: The Presiding Bishop and Council of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church; the Executive Board of the United Lutheran Church in America; 
the General Board of Promotion of the Northern Baptist Convention; the 
Council of the Boards of Benevolence of the Methodist Episcopal Church; 
the Executive Commission of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. The 
Congregationalists have no single co-ordinating committee that acts for the 
denomination as a whole. There is, however, a Commission on Missions of 
the National Council which is provided for constitutionally and elected by the 
Council to co-ordinate all its missionary work. Other matters that affect 
general denominational interests are dealt with by the Executive Committee 
of the National Council. 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 253 

Both these limitations are due to the distrust of a strong cen- 
tral authority which has been so characteristic of American life. 
The churches, like the cities and states after which their govern- 
ment was modelled, have preferred to suffer the tyranny of irre- 
sponsible bosses whose acts they could disown, rather than to en- 
trust power to responsible agents whom they could control. In 
the Presbyterian Church this fear of centralized authority has been 
carried so far as to disqualify any one who is a member of any of 
the boards of the church from serving upon the executive com- 
mission which is to determine the policy which the boards are to 
execute. 

There can be little doubt that the pressure of need will lead to a 
change in this policy. Indeed, signs are not wanting to show that 
such a change is already taking place. In the Presbyterian Church 
a Committee of the General Assembly is at work upon plans which, 
if carried out, would greatly strengthen the central authority .^ 
Both in the Episcopal and Lutheran Churches the existing com- 
mittees are proving themselves effective unifying agencies. Even 
in the Congregational and Baptist Churches the centralizing 
tendency is evident, and during the interval between conventions, 
the permanent officers are assuming larger executive powers. 

A further difficulty in the way of effective union is found in 
the nature of the intermediate divisions through which the churches 
function. In all the larger denominations it has been necessary to 
establish intermediate agencies between the central national body 
and the local bodies it represents; and the same is true of the 
Christian Associations. These units differ in different churches. 
In the Episcopal Church this imit is the diocese. In the Pres- 
byterian it is the presbytery and the synod; in the Dutch Reformed 
the classis; in the Methodist Church the district, and so on. 

* Since these lines were written the Committee's report has been adopted 
by the General Assembly. This report consolidates the sixteen boards and 
agencies of the church into four new boards, namely, the Board of Foreign 
Missions, the Board of National Missions, the Board of Christian Educa- 
tion and the Board of Ministerial Relief and Sustentation. The Boards of 
Foreign Missions and National Missions will be composed both of men and 
women in the proportion of twenty-five to fifteen. The Assembly further 
referred to the presbyteries for their consideration the Committee's recom- 
mendation that a council of twenty-seven members should be created with a 
permanent paid executive, on which representatives of the new boards should 
serve with other members appointed by the church at large. 



254 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

These different bodies have different powers, and if their personnel 
be reactionary or unsympathetic can effectively block a policy 
which has the approval of the central body. This provision, like 
the parallel arrangement between the state and the nation, has its 
advantages in that it increases the opportunity of experiment, and 
so the interchange of experience, but it makes it difficult to carry 
out a consistent national policy. 

A more serious difficulty is found in the fact that the inter- 
mediate bodies do not correspond with one another. Each church 
has mapped out its local divisions without reference to the others, 
with the result that even when unity is achieved at the top or at 
the bottom, it is impossible to secure it in the middle, or, if not 
impossible, so difficult that the cost is practically prohibitive. 
Thus in New York City to unite the churches in support of a city- 
wide programme it is necessary to secure the consent of two Pres- 
byterian bodies, fourteen Lutheran, five Methodist, and two Epis- 
copal, not to mention bodies like the Baptist whose organization 
covers the city as a whole. A similar difficulty is met in dealing 
with larger areas like the state. Even the Associations have done 
nothing to remove this diflSculty. The Young Men's Christian 
Association is organized by states, the Young Women's Christian 
Association by fields which cross state lines. 

For this maladjustment the obvious remedy would seem to be 
the adoption of a uniform standard of division — say the state or 
some convenient group of states, with such smaller sub-divisions 
as experience might suggest — and the regrouping of the existing 
ecclesiastical divisions so as to make them conform as nearly as 
possible to this arrangement. Such an adjustment would take time 
and patience, but it would bring its reward in increased effective- 
ness, and there is no reason why, through the formation of state 
federations or other central committees, it should not in time be 
effected. 

A possible agent through which to bring about this readjust- 
ment is the state federation of churches where one exists. Such 
federations, as we have seen, are found in a number of states and 
are doing increasingly useful work. In Montana the Home Mis- 
sions Council has taken the initiative. The entire state has been 
parcelled out between the different denominations and a united 
state-wide work is being carried on in the name of the Church as 
a whole. The experience gained in such a common enterprise is 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 255 

bound to have a reflex influence on those who take part in it, and 
where clumsy or ill-adapted denominational machinery stands in 
the way of efficient service, there is good reason to hope that it 
will be discarded. 



2. The Movement for the Reunion of Denominational Families — 
Its Difficulties, Practical and Theoretical 

The difficulty of bringing about union is enhanced by the fact 
that we are not dealing simply with half a dozen large and com- 
pact organizations, but with a large number of smaller bodies. The 
last Census reports some two hundred denominations in the United 
States, and while a number of these are so small as for our pur- 
pose to be practically negligible, there remain of bodies over 50,000 
no less than forty-six. 

Serious as the situation is, however, there are compensating 
features. Of the existing denominations, many, as we have seen, 
owe their organization to local or passing conditions, and only a 
few represent real differences of fundamental conviction. It is 
possible to group the leading denominations of the United States 
into seven or eight families which between them include by far 
the larger number of Protestant Christians, and the problem of 
Christian unity, therefore, would seem to require first the union of 
the separated members of these families with one another. 

This movement is, in fact, going on with varying degrees of 
success. The Lutherans, until recently the most divided of all the 
denominational groups, have given the most encouraging example of 
reunion. Three of their larger bodies ^ have come together to form 
the United Lutheran Church, and seventeen bodies co-operate in 
the work of the National Lutheran Council.^ Reunion is being 

*The General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United 
States of America, the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
in North America, and the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
in the South, 

^The United Lutheran Church in America, the Joint Synod of Ohio, the 
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States, the Lutheran Synod 
of Buffalo, the Immanuel Synod, the Jehovah Conference, the Augustana 
Synod, the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, the Lutheran Free 
Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (Eielsen's Synod), the 
Church of the Lutheran Brethren, the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran 



256 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

actively discussed by the churches of the Presbyterian and Re- 
formed families. Three of the Presbyterian bodies have already 
come together^ and negotiations are now on foot between five 
of the remaining.^ Among the Methodists and Baptists prog- 
ress is slower. The race question, as we have seen, presents diffi- 
culties which have not yet been overcome. Yet the sentiment for 
unity is present, and among the Methodists at least a way is likely 
to be found in the not too distant future.^ 

Scarcely less serious than the obstacles to reunion which grow 
out of the past history of the denominations are those which are 
due to the division of sentiment among the present members. By 
this we do not refer simply to the divergent views as to the im- 
portance of uniting with other churches, but to differences of 
opinion as to the degree of freedom which the Church should allow 
its own members. In such a body as the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, for example, a wide difference of theological belief exists. 
All shades of opinion from Catholicism without the Pope to the 
most radical Protestantism are represented. This breadth and 
inclusiveness is a source of pride to some of its most distinguished 
bishops.* Other leading churchmen regard the presence of Protes- 
tant beliefs within the Church as a serious disadvantage, which, if 
they could, they would remove. Far from thinking of the Church 
as a half-way house between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, 
they maintain that it belongs wholly on the Catholic side. To 

Church of America, the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the 
Icelandic Lutheran Church in North America, the Suomi Synod, the Finnish 
Evangelical National Lutheran Church in America, the Finnish Apostolic 
Lutheran Church of America. 

'The Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., the Cumbedand Presbyterian 
Church, the Welch Calvinistic Methodist Church. 

^The Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., the Presbyterian Church in the 
U. S., the United Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church in the U. S. 
(Dutch) and the Reformed Church in America (German). 

Since the above was written, the negotiations between the Northern and 
Southern Presbyterians have been broken off for the time being. Discourag- 
ing as this failure is, its importance should not be exaggerated. The factors 
which are working for the reunion of denominational families are deep-seated 
and persistent. Their operation may for the time being be delayed, but it 
cannot be arrested, as the progress of the negotiations in the Canadian church 
abundantly proves. 

^ For information as to the present state of the unity movement among the 
denominations cf. "Christian Unity," pp. 45-95. 

*E.g., Bishop Manning, "The Call to Unity," pp. 88-91. 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 257 

their thinking it is one of the three historic divisions of the one 
true Church from which the bodies which they call sects have 
schismatically separated themselves. It is obvious that when influ- 
ential leaders differ so fundamentally it is not easy to secure 
effective action on behalf of unity. 

What is true of the Episcopal Church is true with variations in 
each of the larger bodies. The form varies; the issue remains the 
same. Each church has its high and its low churchmen, its liberals 
and its conservatives. Each is itself an epitome of the larger Church 
and faces similar problems. The situation in each case reacts upon 
the larger problems of unity. The conservatives fear any move- 
ment which would seem to justify the liberals in their position. 
The liberals hesitate to assent to action which might increase the 
power of the conservatives. 

Illustrations of this divisive tendency could be given in the case 
of denominations where every practical consideration would point 
to unity. Among the reasons for the hesitation of the Southern 
Presbyterian Church to accept the proposals for union made by 
the Northern church is the . fear that its own orthodoxy may be 
weakened by the infusion of a more liberal type of theology. In 
the case of the Baptists, the division between North and South, 
originally caused by the race question and still perpetuated by it, 
is reinforced by the uncompromising insistence of the Southern 
Baptists upon close communion, and their more conservative view 
of the Bible. 

Even Congregationalism is no exception to this rule. If it be 
asked why Unitarian Christians, originally members of the Congre- 
gational family, still constitute a denominational group of their 
own, the answer lies in the field of doctrine. To unite with the 
Unitarians, the Congregationalists must sacrifice their present close 
relations with other churches which hold strictly to the Trinitarian 
faith. Even if they were willing to do this, the cause of unity would 
not be advanced. To seek union on terms which would result in a 
new division is a poor way to promote the cause of unity. Let us 
first unite those who are already closest together. Then we can see 
what can be done for those who are farther away.^ 

^One great advantage possessed by the movement for unity in the local 
field is that it makes possible discrimination not feasible on a nation-wide 
scale. In certain of the local federations of New England Unitarian churches 
are to-day co-operating with churches of other bodies in various forms of 



258 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

3. Organic and Federal Unity— Reasons why We Must Begin with 

the Latter— The Federal Council, an Agency of 

Nation-wide Christian Co-operation 

It is against this background that we must approach the move- 
ment for Christian unity in its larger aspects. That movement, as 
we have seen, has two phases— the movement for organic unity and 
the movement for federal unity. The first seeks to substitute for 
the present denominations some more inclusive organization; the 
second takes the present denominations for granted and attempts 
through them to work out the most effective and practicable forms 
of co-operation. 

The movement for organic union in turn has two phases, of 
which one seeks the reunion of Christendom as a whole, the other 
is content to unite the different churches within a definite geographi- 
cal area like the nation. The outstanding example of the first is 
the proposed World Conference on Faith and Order. Examples of 
the second are the movements for unity in Canada, Australia, and 
New Zealand, and the recent proposal for the organic union of the 
American churches made by the Philadelphia Conference of 

1920. 

Important as these movements are, all but the last lie outside the 
scope of the present discussion. Of the first it is sufficient to say 
that the refusal of the Pope to be represented in the conference 
proves what careful students of the subject have long suspected— 
that any movement for union which tries to include Rome is for the 
present foredoomed to failure. It is necessary, therefore, either 
to abandon the hope of union altogether, or to confine the movement 
to such bodies as are sufficiently close in sympathies and ideals to 
make present contact fruitful. Such movements, on the other hand, 
as are going on in Canada and Australia would seem to show that 
among Protestant bodies, at least, if enough time and pains be 
taken, organic union on a national scale is not impossible. 

With the refusal of the Pope to take part in the Conference on 
Faith and Order, the position of the Greek Orthodox Church be- 

practical Christian activity. Through the contacts thus made, possible mis- 
understanding is being removed and progress made toward that mutual 
spiritual appreciation and sympathy which is the prerequisite of any effective 
outward unity on a large scale. 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 259 

comes one of exceptional interest. There are many indications that 
in this quarter the approach of the Protestant churches will be met 
in a very different spirit. The bonds of spiritual sympathy forged 
in the fires of the Great War and its resulting sufferings have been 
further strengthened by the visits of representative Greek prelates.^ 
In Russia especially, the future of the Greek Church will be a sub- 
ject of special interest to American Protestants. It is the one 
stable institution which has survived the cataclysm of Bolshevism, 
and there is much to be said for the view that the true way to 
advance the spiritual interests of Russia is not to compete with the 
work this church is doing, but to strengthen it in every possible 
way. 

Yet to allow our desire for closer relations with the Greek 
Church to divert us from the more obvious duty of securing an 
effective union of American Protestantism would be short-sighted in 
the extreme. To sacrifice possible union here in the hope of secur- 
ing unity elsewhere would be to retard rather than to advance the 
cause we have at heart. The stronger and more united the Ameri- 
can Protestant Church, the more persuasive will be its appeal to 
our brethren of other churches. 

Especially interesting and significant for our American unity 
movement is the experience of our sister churches in Canada, New 
Zealand, and Australia, which have already made substantial prog- 
ress toward organic union. In Canada a vigorous movement for the 
union of the Presbyterian, the Methodist, and the Congregational 
churches has been in progress since 1902. In 1909 and 1910 the 
basis of union for the United Church of Canada was approved by 
a large majority of all the churches, and while the size of the 
minority which in the Presbyterian Church was not yet ready for 
union made it seem wise not to press the matter at the time, it now 
seems that the patient effort of twenty years will soon be crowned 
with success and the United Church of Canada be translated from 
an ideal into reality. ^ 

A similar movement is on foot between the Presbyterians, Con- 
gregationalists, and Methodists of Australia and New Zealand, and 

^E.g., Most Rev. Meletios Metaxakis, (Ecumenical Patriarch of Con- 
stantinople, and Bishop Nicholai of Ochrida. 

'William E. Gilroy, "Church Union in Canada," Christian Century, 
September 8, 15, 1921 ; The Right Rev. the Bishop of Ontario, 'The Church 
of England in Canada and Reunion," Hibbert Journal, July, 1920; ''Christian 
Unity: Its Prmciples and Possibilities," pp. 352, 353. 



260 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

is apparently meeting with similar success. There seems good rea- 
son, therefore, to hope that here, too, a strong national church will 
be formed by the coming together of these three bodies.^ 

If these movements encourage us to believe that organic union 
is possible between Protestant bodies within definite geographical 
areas, they warn us that this will require much time and patience. 
This seems to be the lesson taught by the failure of the Philadelphia 
plan above referred to.^ This plan was the outcome of a Confer- 
ence on Organic Union held in Philadelphia in 1918 at the invita- 
tion of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the 
U. S. A., which was attended by representatives of nineteen com- 
munions. It provides that when six denominations shall have 
certified their assent, a council may be convened to function for 
what shall be known as the United Church of Christ in America. 
The plan contemplates a federal council with enlarged powers 
which, besides general duties of an advisory and judicial character, 
shall have power "to direct such consolidation of the missionary 
activities as well as of particular churches in over-churched 
areas as is consistent with the law of the land and of the par- 
ticular denominations affected." ^ After two years of discussion by 
the committee appointed to prepare it, this plan has now been sub- 
mitted to the constituent bodies, but if present indications are to be 
trusted, there seems to be slight chance of its acceptance. Even the 
Presbyterian Church, which was responsible for the initiation of 
the conference, has thus far failed to secure the assent of the requi- 
site number of presbyteries to the proposed plan. 

One reason for the failure of the plan has already been men- 
tioned — the limited time which has been given to its preparation. 
Such a union, if it is to succeed, must be preceded by a long period 
of education and be the expression of a spiritual sympathy gained 
through years of practical co-operation. A second reason is the 
fact that what is proposed is simply a federal council with enlarged 
powers. This being the case, it has seemed to many that it would 
be more sensible to strengthen the Federal Council that we now 
have than to create a new one with different duties and authority.* 

*Cf. "Christian Unity: Its Principles and Possibihties," p. 353. 

=" Op. cit., pp. 156, 355-358. 

^ Op cit., p. 358. 

Mt is only fair to say that those who advocate the Philadelphia plan do 
not apprehend any serious difficulty on this score. They point out that the 
two bodies have different functions and authority, and that it would be 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 261 

Under existing conditions, therefore, the natural point of de- 
parture for the movement for unity in this country would seem to 
be the present Federal Council. We must therefore inquire what 
qualifications it has to become the central unifying agency of which 
we are in search. 

The Federal Council is an organization which came into exist- 
ence in 1908 through the action of twenty-nine co-operating 
churches, to which in the course of the following year four more 
were added. It consists of a body of delegates officially appointed 
by their constituent bodies for the purposes set forth in the con- 
stitution as follows: 

''I. To express the fellowship and catholic unity of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

''IL To bring the Christian bodies of America into united service 
for Christ and the world. 

"III. To encourage devotional fellowship and mutual counsel 
concerning the spiritual life and religious activities of the churches. 

"IV. To secure a larger combined influence for the churches of 
Christ in all matters affecting the moral and social condition of the 
people, so as to promote the application of the law of Christ in 
every relation of human life. 

"V. To assist in the organization of local branches of the Federal 
Council to promote its aims in their communities." 

These delegates meet in council every four years, or more 
often if they shall so decide. In the interim the authority of the 
Council is exercised through an Executive Committee of one hun- 
dred members meeting annually, which in turn is represented by an 
Administrative Committee which meets monthly. This committee 
includes, besides the official representatives of the denominations, 
certain individuals elected by the Executive Committee and certain 
corresponding members representing other organizations. 

The work of the Council is carried on by permanent committees 
known as commissions, as well as by temporary committees. The 
most important of the former are the Commissions on Councils of 
Churches, on Evangelism and Life Service, on the Church and 
Social Service, on International Justice and Goodwill, on the Church 
and Race Relations, and on Army and Navy Chaplains. Other 

entirely possible for those churches who accept the Philadelphia plan to 
continue m the existing Federal Council their relation with their sister churches 
who are not ready to move forward so fast. 



262 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

commissions are concerned with Relations with Religious Bodies in 
Europe, with Temperance, and with Christian Education. The 
personnel of these commissions is made up of persons interested in 
the matters with which they deal, and so far as possible representa- 
tive of the constituent denominational bodies. The more impor- 
tant have paid secretaries who, together with the general secretaries, 
form the Secretarial Council. 

The financial support of the Council has hitherto been drawn 
from three sources: the contributions of the denominations; gifts 
from friends interested in the cause of Christian unity; special'funds 
raised by the various commissions. During the period of experiment 
through which the Council has been passing, it has been forced 
largely to rely upon individual support. This has been recognized 
as a weakness, and at its recent meeting in Boston the Council 
decided to appeal to the denominations to assume the full support 
of the work. 

During the years of its existence the growth of the Council has 
been rapid and steady. It has assumed new duties as occasion 
demanded, and is to-day recognized as an indispensable organ of 
the churches. It would seem therefore the natural nucleus for the 
co-operative movement of the future. 

So far as its theoretical basis is concerned, the constitution of 
the Council leaves little to be desired. Including to-day thirty-one 
co-operating churches,^ organized on a thoroughly representative 
basis for purposes which our entire study has shown us to be of 
fundamental importance, it is an organization which expresses in 
official form the highest measure of co-operation which the churches 

'The Northern Baptist Convention; the Free Baptist General Confer- 
ence; the National Baptist Convention (African); the American Christian 
Convention; the Christian Reformed Church in North America; the Churches 
of God m North America; the Congregational Churches; the Disciples of 
Christ; the Evangelical Association; the Evangelical Synod of North 
America; the Friends; the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South; the Primitive Methodist Church; the Colored 
Methodist Episcopal Church in America; the Methodist Protestant Church; 
the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the African Methodist Episcopal 
Zion Church; the Moravian Church; the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.; 
the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. ; the Reformed Presbyterian Church ; the 
Protestant Episcopal Church (through its Commissions on Christian Unity 
and Social Service); the Reformed Church in America; the Reformed 
Church in the U. S.; the Reformed Episcopal Church; the Seventh Day 
Baptist Churches; the United Brethren in Christ; the United Evangelical 
Church; the United Presbyterian Church; the United Lutheran Church (con- 
sultative body). 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 263 

of America have yet attained. Objections to it on the ground of 
theory are based either on misapprehension of the facts, or fear 
that any form of federal union may prove so satisfactory to those 
who take part in it as to make them indifferent to any larger 
movement. 

On the score of achievement, too, the record of the Council is 
enviable.! With scanty resources and little official support it has 
performed many services of great value to the Church. Through its 
committees and commissions it has done good work in important 
fields, notably in the fields of social service, evangelism, local federa- 
tions, and international relations. It has served as a means of 
communication not only between the churches of this country but of 
Great Britain and Europe as well. It has been the means of raising 
large sums for the weaker churches of France and Belgium and 
through its Commission on Oriental Relations ^ done much to pro- 
mote better feeling between this country and Japan. To meet the 
war emergency it created the General War-Time Commission of 
the Churches, with its daughter, the Committee on the War and the 
Religious Outlook.3 Judged by its accomplishments, hitherto, the 
Federal Council would seem to deserve the confidence of the 
churches. 

It is doubtful if so representative a gathering of American 
Christians had ever assembled in this country, or so inspiring a 
programme been outlined as at the quadrennial meeting of the 
Federal Council in Boston in December, 1920.* The spirit of the 
meeting was expressed in the closing message to the churches from 
which we make the following extract: 

j For a full account of the Federal Council the reader should consult the 
substantial volume entitled ''The Churches Allied for Common Tasks " which 
contams its last report to the constituent bodies. In four different ways the 
Council IS serving the churches: (1) as a means of information on matters of 
common mterest, as through the publication of its Year Book and monthly 
bulletins; (2) as a co-ordinating agency in the fields where the churches are 
already actively at work, e.g., evangelism, religious education, social service 
etc.; (3) as a pioneer in new work for which the churches have as yet no 
adequate official agencies, e.g., race relations, international relationships- 
(4) as an organ of communication with other bodies, national and interna- 
tional, e.^. the Washington office, the Commission on Relations with Rehgious 
Bodies m Europe, etc. ^ 

^ Now merged with the Commission on International Justice and Goodwill. 
Cf. Chapter VI, pp. 111-113. 

Cavert.: New ^ork^'i'^L""'^ ^°' ^°'^°'°'' '^^'^''' '^""'^ ^^ «™"^' ^«"Crea 



264 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

"To all who love and would follow our Lord Jesus Christ: 

''In the midst of world-wide unrest and uncertainty, we, the 
members of the Fourth Quadrennial Meeting of the Federal Council 
of the Churches of Christ in America, face the future with confidence 
and hope. Wherever we look, in our own country or in foreign 
lands, we find tasks which challenge and opportunities which in- 
spire. The time calls the churches to resolute and united ad- 
vance. 

'There is a message of faith and hope and brotherhood which 
must be brought to a despondent and disheartened world. 

"There are starving peoples to be fed. In China, in the Near 
East, in the countries lately devastated by war, men, women, and 
little children are crying to us for help. 

"In our own country there are wrongs to be righted and injus- 
tices to be removed in order that there may be a more abundant life 
for all. 

"Millions are struggling for better economic and industrial con- 
ditions which will enable them to realize their full personality as 
sons of the Most High God. These desires we must help them to 
fulfil. 

"There are problems involved in the relation of the races in 
our country and in other lands which can only be met by the meth- 
ods of co-operation and conference which befit the children of a 
common Father. 

"There is a reconciling word to be spoken to the peoples with 
whom we have lately been at war and with whom we hope soon to 
be associated in the constructive tasks of peace. 

"Perplexing questions are at issue between our own country 
and our neighbors in Mexico and in Japan that need for their solu- 
tion the spirit of mutual understanding and sympathy which Chris- 
tianity inspires. 

"There are aspirations after international justice and goodwill 
which must be realized in an association of the nations for mutual 
helpfulness and world service. 

"There is a world-wide ministry to be rendered to men of every 
nation and every race — a unity of the spirit to be achieved which 
shall make possible all the lesser unities that we seek. 

"To these tasks we would consecrate ourselves anew, to this 
ministry we would invite men of goodwill everywhere. 

"What is this work to which our Master summons us? It is 
to help men everywhere to realize the kind of life that befits free 
personalities who accept the standards of Jesus Christ. We must 
show men not by word only, but by deed, what Christian disciple- 
ship means for men living in such a world and facing such condi- 
tions as confront us to-day — what it means for the family, what it 
means for industry, what it means for the relation of race to race 
and of nation to nation. 

"But that our witness may be effective, our conduct must match 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 265 

our profession. A self-centred church cannot rebuke the selfishness 
of business. A self-complacent church is helpless before the arro- 
gance of race. A church which is itself the scene of competition 
and strife is impotent in face of the rivalries of the nations. When 
men see Christians forgetting their differences in common service, 
then and not till then will they believe in Christ's power to break 
down the barriers between classes and between races. 

''We welcome, therefore, the voice that comes to us across the 
sea from our fellow-Christians in Lambeth, joining with us in call- 
ing the churches to more complete unity. We reciprocate the spirit 
of their most Christian utterance. We believe with them that vv^e 
are already one in Christ and are persuaded that the way to mani- 
fest the spiritual unity which we now possess, and to make possible 
its increase in ever enlarging measure, is for all those who love our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to join in discharging the common 
duties whose obligation all alike recognize. 

"In this hour fraught with the possibilities of healing or of dis- 
aster, one thing only can save the nations and that is a will to 
united service, born of faith in the triumph of the good. To this 
faith we summon all men in the name of Him who died that we 
might live and who is able by His spirit to bring out of the failure 
and disappointment of the present a far more abundant and satis- 
fying life. In this faith we would rededicate ourselves to the serv- 
ice of the living God, whose Kingdom is righteousness and peace 
and joy." 

The detailed programme of the Council was embodied in the 
report of the Committee on Methods of Co-operation. This report 
begins by endorsing the report of a previous committee presented 
at Cleveland, in which the legitimate business and duty of the 
Federal Council were described as follows: 

"To provide points of contact between the denominations 
through their recognized representatives, in order to facilitate un- 
derstanding and sympathy between them; 

"To study the programme of co-operative tasks, suggesting 
measures and methods by which such tasks can be done effectively ; 
and undertake whatever work properly falls within its sphere; 

"To speak with care and a due sense of responsibility for the 
churches on those matters on which there is a general agreement; 

"To serve as a clearing-house of information about those things 
that are being done by its constituent bodies and other organiza- 
tions affiliated or co-operating with it; 

"To be an organ of publicity through which that which is of 
interest to all may be effectively conveyed to each and to the public ; 

"To function in other forms of co-operative work for which 
there may be no adequate provision." 



2^^ THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

After paying a tribute to the work now being done by the 
existing commissions of the Council in various important fields and 
emphasizing the need of still further strengthening and developing 
this work, notably in the fields of evangelism and Christian educa- 
tion, the report then goes on to speak of ''other concrete needs not 
now provided for in the Council's agencies which in our judgment 
call for some provision, either directly by the Federal Council or 
indirectly through it by related co-operative agencies. These 
include: (1) the friendly and mutually assisting integration of the 
denominational promotional or forward movements; (2) the pro- 
vision of some board or committee of forethought and outlook 
which will study and plan for us all, with no administrative au- 
thority, but to suggest approaching needs and the requisite prepara- 
tions to meet them; (3) some adequate arrangement for supplying 
information and interpretation regarding the work and activity of 
the churches; (4) an adequate, continuous, and wisely directed en- 
. deavor of all our forces in behalf of a more general acceptance of 
true principles of stewardship both of money and of life; (5) some 
facilities for the general relationship of all the Christian organiza- 
tions and activities of women which would provide them with a 
common meeting-ground and clearing-house and make the facts of 
their work and relationships accessible to the churches; (6) some 
central study of the problem of lay activities in the churches and 
some helpful interrelation of the denominational efforts to deal with 
this problem; (7) the promotion of 'works of serving love,' of those 
deeds of mercy and benevolence in which Christians unite and 
which powerfully express their common faith." 

Here surely is work which needs to be done, if not by the 
Federal Council, then by some other body similarly constituted. 

On the other hand, the Federal Council suffers from certain 
weaknesses which, if not corrected, will be fatal to its success. It 
has not as yet had back of it the active support of the constituent 
bodies in the sense in which the War-Time Commission came to 
have that support in the war tasks of the churches. They do not 
yet feel it theirs in the same sense in which they feel this to be 
true of their own denominational boards and agencies. Above all, 
it has not yet secured the whole-hearted support of two great 
bodies whose co-operation was essential to the success of the War- 
Time Commission, the Protestant Episcopal Church and the United 
Lutheran Church. 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 267 

These weaknesses were clearly recognized at the Boston meeting 
and steps were taken to correct them. Certain changes in the con- 
stitution of the Council's committees were approved which would 
make them more fully representative. Most important of all, the 
denominations which have hitherto confined their support to the 
payment of the expenses of their delegates to the quadrennial meet- 
ings were asked to assume full financial support of the Council by 
a pro-rata -apportionment of its budget, and encouraging progress 
has already been made along this line. 

A recent statement from the treasurer of the Federal Council 
reports that of the $250,000 needed for next year's budget, $155,000 
have been approved either conditionally or unconditionally by the 
co-operating churches. In some cases the appropriation has been 
made from denominational funds already existing; in others in the 
form of recommendations to the churches. As compared with the 
situation which existed prior to the Boston meeting, in which the 
total of the denominational contributions to the Council amounted 
to no more than $16,000, this represents a substantial gain. 

In the case of the communions not now formally members of the 
Federal Council, progress has also been made. The Episcopal 
Church, already represented through two of its Commissions, is in 
unofficial ways co-operating with the Council along many lines. 
It is greatly to be hoped that in the spirit of the Lambeth recom- 
mendation as to the formation of councils in convenient geograph- 
ical areas ^ the next General Convention will approve the sug- 
gestion already made by many of its members that the church 
assume full membership in the Council. In the case of the Lutheran 
Church there are certain difficulties to be overcome which grow 
out of the historic position of that church toward all forms of co- 
operation which are not doctrinally safeguarded. But here, too, 
there is a growing spirit of co-operation. Full conferences have been 
held between a committee of the Administrative Committee and a 
committee of the United Lutheran Church, as a result of which the 
latter has recommended that the church assume a consultative rela- 
tionship to the Council and in addition share in the work of certain 
of its commissions, — a recommendation which has since been acted 
upon favorably. It is greatly to be hoped that this may be only a 
first step toward full membership. 

A further adjustment is needed between the Federal Council 

' Cf . p. 188. 



268 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

and the central administrative agencies like the Home Missions 
Council; the Foreign Missions Conference, and the corresponding 
councils in the field of Christian education, whose important work 
we have studied in our last chapter, as well as between the Federal 
Council and the Christian Associations and other nation-wide 
voluntary societies. The representatives of these bodies sit in the 
Administrative Committee of the Council as consultative members, 
and the relation on both sides is most cordial. As administrative 
agencies, however, the different bodies are entirely independent. It 
is a fair question whether the time will not soon come — if indeed it 
has not already come — when some closer relationship may prove 
desirable, some relationship which, while preserving the full au- 
tonomy of each body within the sphere assigned to it, will make it 
clear to the world that the Church of Jesus Christ in its Protestant 
branch is in the truest sense one.^ 

We have an analogy in the late war. For years the Allies fought 
under divided leadership with all its disadvantages in loss of time 
and efficiency. Only the most urgent need induced them to give 

^It is interesting to note that the Roman Catholic Church, as a result of 
its war experience, has established such a central agency. Cf. Catholic World, 
January, 1922, p. 482. "It was natural that this lesson should find co-ordinated, 
immediate expression for the time of peace, and when the war ended, almost 
of itself, the National Catholic War Council became the National Catholic 
Welfare Council. As with its predecessor, unification and co-operation are its 
watchwords. In this continuation, by the Hierarchy, of an American Catholic 
organization, we have the best proof that the effort which originated during 
the days of the war will extend with power into the future. We cannot 
dwell here upon the splendid programme which the Welfare Council has set 
for itself, but we can, at least, call attention to its general object; for the 
object of this latter union is akin to that of the former — to give national 
expression to the thought of American Catholics upon spiritual and moral 
matters that affect the welfare of the country. Unification is necessary that 
such thought may have concrete and weighty value as the expression of all 
Catholics; co-operation is necessary that it may be clearly seen that this 
Catholic thought is also truly American." On the relation between the church 
and the Knights of Columbus, cf. Catholic World, January, 1922, p. 476. "In 
regard to this matter, a statement of Bishop Muldoon, Chairman of the 
Administrative Committee of the National Catholic War Council, deserves to 
be cited: 'Some people have said the Church has stepped in and tried to rob 
the Knights of Columbus of their glory. The Church, instead of absorbing 
them, has embraced them and held them up to the world as her adopted 
children. The Catholic Church by adopting the Knights of Columbus as her 
agent, has broadened the service of the Knights of Columbus. She stands 
behind them with all her power, and gives them the blessing of the Beloved 
One.' " 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 269 

Foch the supreme authority he required and to furnish him with a 
reserve which should represent neither France, nor England, nor 
Italy, nor the United States, but the Allies as a whole. During the 
period of transition, the danger of division was minimized by the 
creation of the liaison officer. This was a man who was set apart 
by one army to serve as a constant means of communication with 
the forces with which it was co-operating. Through him each knew 
what the other was doing and the danger of divided counsels was 

averted. 

Pending the fuller union to which we look forward, we need such 
liaison officers in the Christian church, and the Federal Council 
would seem to be an agency through which they could render most 
effective service. What would it not mean for the future of the 
Church of Christ if in each of the more important denominations 
there should be an officer as able and representative as the men 
who are now secretaries of denominational boards, whose sole func- 
tion it was to represent the Church in interdenominational relations 
and report to his constituency the ways in which they could most 
effectively co-operate in common tasks. Such an officer would 
ordinarily be a member of the central council or commission of his 
own church and so in touch with all its work. But he would be 
free from other executive duties and so be able to give all the time 
that is necessary to consider the important work that affects all 
alike. The existence of such a body of men, serving with the full 
approval of the constituent bodies, would do more than any other 
single thing to promote the union of American Protestantism and 
bring a united Church within the range of practical politics. 



4. The Larger Aspects of the Unity Movement — The Relation of 
the Protestant Churches to Other Bodies, Religious and 
Non-religious — Possible Ways of Securing Inter- 
national Co-operation between the Churches 

There is a word still to be said of the relation of the Protestant 
churches to the other national bodies, both in this country and 
across the sea, with which their work brings them into natural con- 
tact. These include the various philanthropic and charitable socie- 
ties that operate on a nation-wide scale, religious bodies like the 
Roman Catholics and the Jews, with which any direct co-operation 



270 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

in religious matters is for the time being impossible and yet who 
share with the Protestant churches certain spiritual and moral ideals 
and purposes, and finally, the churches in other countries whose co- 
operation is essential in the formation of an international Christian 

opinion. 

In the past there has been little direct contact between the or- 
ganized philanthropies of the country and the churches. Individual 
Christians have been active workers in every good cause. In the 
local field the relation between the church and the different educa- 
tional and charitable organizations has been helpful and often inti- 
mate. In connection with a few great causes such as temperance 
and the suppression of commercialized vice the churches have defi- 
nitely supported organizations like the Anti-Saloon League and the 
Sabbath Association, which have worked for reform legislation by 
the usual methods employed by political organizations. But in 
general the churches have left the field of organized charity and 
of moral and social reform to the many private societies which make 
it their specialty. In the annual congresses of philanthropic work- 
ers, the representatives of the churches are not often found. 

Yet it is a question whether in the future so wide a separation 
is desirable. It is easy to understand how the separation has come 
about. We have seen that as the institution of religion the Church 
has a sphere of its own which it must guard with care. The fact 
remains that with the growth of the social interest to which we have 
already alluded, the churches find themselves more and more con- 
cerned with the questions with which the organized philanthropies 
of the country are dealing. Granting that there are many things 
which these societies can properly do which the churches cannot do, 
it is still a fact that the churches command the moral influence with- 
out which reforms cannot be effectively carried through. It would 
seem desirable, therefore, that there should be an understanding 
between the representatives of the churches and the leaders of the 
different reform and philanthropic movements as to what the 
churches can properly be asked to do to promote the causes in which 
both alike are interested and where this responsibility ceases. 

In the past the churches have had no agency through which 
such contact could naturally be brought about. To-day such an 
agency exists in the Federal Council. Through its Commission on 
Social Service the Council is in constant communication with the 
leaders of the different social and charitable organizations of the 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 271 

country, and in its bi-weekly bulletin provides a convenient source 
of information for those church people who desire to know what is 
being done in these circles to promote the moral and spiritual issues 
they have at heart. 

In the case of the non-Protestant religious bodies the situation is 
somewhat different, for here a new and distinctive factor enters in.. 
Beside the general desire for social betterment our fellow-citizens. 
of other religious faiths share with us our interest in the spiritual, 
interpretation of the universe. Can we meet them on this ground: 
as well as on the more neutral territory of moral and social reform?' 
Once in a while we find Roman Catholics and Protestants par- 
ticipating in a religious service, as in the great religious meeting; 
held in the Madison Square Garden at the opening of the war. But 
such opportunities come seldom, and for the most part we must- 
be content to find our contacts in such matters of common concern 
as temperance, the battle against commercialized vice or the cause 
of industrial justice. An interesting example of such co-operation 
was the report of the Denver Commission of Religious Forces on the 
recent car strike in that city, a report in which representatives of the 
Federal Council's Commission on Social Service and the National 
Catholic Welfare Council co-operated with the local authorities in 
studying the situation and making recommendations. 

In connection with the observance of November 13, 1921, as 
Labor Sunday by the Boston Federation of Churches,' Cardinal 
O'Connell, after conference with representatives of the Federation, 
issued a pastoral letter to the Roman Catholics of Boston, urging 
them to make a similar use of the day. 

A further example of co-operation was the recent appeal for a 
Federal investigation of the situation in the bituminous coal fields 
issued jointly by the Commission on the Church and Social Service 
of the Federal Council and the National Welfare Council of the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

An even more interesting example of co-operation in the field of 
distinctively religious interest took place in Detroit when Roman 
Catholics and Protestants together approached the mayor with the 
request that all business be suspended on Good Friday between one 
and three o'clock. This action was possible because Detroit has a 
strong federation of churches which could speak for Protestantism 
as a whole. If there is ever to be effective co-operation between 
Roman Catholics and Protestants at any point, it will be because 



272 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the Protestant forces themselves are independently and strongly 

organized. 

With the Jews we have the common interest of the Old Testa- 
ment and a spiritual interpretation of the universe. But the natural 
opposition of the Jews to proselytizing, as they regard any attempt 
to win their members to Christianity, makes co-operation in the 
field of religion difiicult. Yet when one considers the situation in 
a city like New York, where thousands and tens of thousands of 
young men and women of Jewish antecedents are growing up with- 
out any contact with the synagogue,^ it would seem as if it ought 
to be possible to find some form of spiritual ministry to these young 
people in which Christians and Jews alike could co-operate. 

An interesting example of co-operation between Protestants, 
Catholics, and Jews occurred during the war in connection with the 
so-called Committee of Six. This was a small committee including 
Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Jews who, at Secretary Baker's 
request, acted as advisers to the War Department on matters of 
interest to the groups concerned.^ Among other things they in- 
spected the chaplains' school at Louisville at the government's 
expense, and made certain recommendations which were approved 
by the department. In addition Roman Catholics and Jews have 
co-operated with Protestants in the Religious Education Associa- 
tion, and they are working together cordially in the World Alli- 
ance for International Friendship through the Churches. 

The third group of relationships to be considered is that of our 
American Protestant churches to their sister churches in other 
countries. If we are ever to deal effectively with the international 
problems before the Church, Christians of different countries must 
work together, and for this some form of international organization 
will be necessary. Either a national council or committee may be 
formed in each country to co-operate with similar committees in 

^Cf Robert W. Anthony, "A Study of the Jews in Greater New York," 
published by the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church m the 

* ' The chairman of the committee was Father John Burke, Chairman of 
the Committee on Special War Activities of the National Catholic War Coun- 
cil and the other members were Dr. Robert E. Speer, Chairman of the General 
War-Time Commission of the Churches, Colonel Harry Cutler, Chairman of 
the Jewish Welfare Board, Dr. John R. Mott, Bishop James De Wolf Perry 
Jr and the writer. While holding responsible positions in their several 
organizations, these gentlemen served on the Committee of Six in their 
individual, not in their official, capacity. 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 273 

other countries ; or the point of contact may be found in denomina- 
tional gatherings of international character, such as the Lambeth 
Conference, the Alliance of Reformed Churches throughout the 
World Holding the Presbyterian System, the World Conference of 
Methodists, and the like. Both methods have their advantages and 
may profitably be used; but of the two, the former is the more 
promising. Both from the point of view of geographical conveni- 
ence and from that of the factors to be united, the nation is the 
natural unit. One of the chief reasons for the impotence of the 
Church to-day in international affairs is that we have as yet no 
effective national churches which can combine in an international 
organization of a truly ecumenical character.^ 

In the meantime American Christians will follow with interest 
the movements which are taking place in the different countries of 
Europe to strengthen and unify their respective churches. In ad- 
dition to its bearing upon the reunion of Christendom, the recent 
Lambeth Conference was significant because it showed us the 
Church of England in the act of defining its own conception of its 
duty as a national church. No less significant is the corresponding 
movement going on among the non-conformist churches which has 
resulted in the creation of the Free Church Council of England 
and Wales, the first really representative organ which the free 
churches of England have possessed; nor should we forget the 
promising movement for union between the Established and the 
United Free Churches of Scotland. 

What is going on in Great Britain is taking place in different 
forms in other countries. We have already spoken of the movement 
for a national church in India and in China. In France and Switzer- 
land Federal Councils have already been formed and similar action 
is contemplated in other countries. With the passing of the State 
Church in Germany the way is open for the formation of a free 

* An interesting argument against the view here expressed is made by Paul 
Hutchinson, in his suggestive little book, *'The Next Step," New York, 1922. 
In this book he argues for a world-wide Methodist Church as against inde- 
pendent national churches. But his argument overlooks the fact that nation- 
alism is not the only divisive force to be contended against. Denomination- 
alism itself may be such a force. It is true that to create national churches 
without uniting them in a larger international church would not realize our 
ideal of Christian unity. It is no less true that to extend the existing rivalry 
of denominations within different countries to the world as a whole would 
be equally to fail of the mark. 



274 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

German church.^ In Czecho-Slovakia a remarkable religious re- 
vival is carrying hundreds of thousands into the old national 
church. In the Scandinavian churches Archbishop Soderblom is 
organizing Christian sentiment in favor of an international organi- 
zation, which shall mobilize the spiritual forces of the churches 

against war. 

It is too soon to predict what form such an international organi- 
zation will take. We are still in the preliminary stage of discussion 
and experimentation. From at least three different centres this 
discussion is proceeding. One centre is the proposed Conference on 
Faith and Order. Concerned as this is with the problem of organic 
union and planning to include all Christian bodies but the church 
of Rome, it necessarily moves slowly and is content to leave to 
others the discussion of plans for practical co-operation on a smaller 
scale. Within the latter field two bodies are at work, the World 
Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches and 
the Federal Council's Commission on International Justice and 
Goodwill. The former is an association of individual Christians 
which aims by free discussion to educate public opinion in favor 
of world peace. It includes Roman Catholics and Jews. The other 
is composed of official representatives of the larger Protestant 
bodies and desires to co-operate with similar organizations in other 
countries in establishing a responsible Federal Council of Christians 
which shall carry with it the moral support of the co-operating 

churches. 

Especially important in its promise for the future is the inter- 
national student movement. The World Student Federation was 
one of the few Christian bodies which maintained its international 
relationships unbroken through the war and it is already taking 
active steps to unite the Christian students of the world in support 
of a campaign for world brotherhood and peace. 

However useful and necessary such informal contacts may be, 
they will not fulfil their purpose unless they result in some perma- 
nent international organization which has back of it the united 
support of the Christian forces of the different countries. What is 
true of the unity movement within each country is true of its larger 
international aspects. The sentiment for union developed through 
informal conference must be made effective for use through the 

'Cf. Kaftan, "Zur Frage der Kirche," Die Eiche, Munich, October, 1921. 



THE CHURCHES GETTING TOGETHER 275 

concerted action of the official representatives of the churches. 
Only when a Federal Council, thoroughly representative of the 
Protestant forces of America, finds similar responsible organiza- 
tions in other countries through which it can work with its fellow 
Christians for world brotherhood and peace, will the Church be in a 
position to exert an effective influence in international affairs. 
Only through the experience gained by contacts of this kind can we 
learn what further steps are feasible in the direction of the organic 
union of the churches.^ 

It is against this background that we have to picture the oppor- 
tunity and responsibility of the American church. Nothing could 
do more to encourage those who are working for Christian union 
elsewhere than to see in a country like America, where individual 
liberty plays so large a role and where there is no national estab- 
lishment of religion, the churches effectively organized for common 
service. For this reason it is to be hoped that no desire to knit 
more closely the bonds of international denominational fellowship, 
however legitimate and important this desire may be, or to express 
Christian sympathy and fellowship with congenial sister churches 
of other lands, will divert the leaders of our American churches 
from their major and most critically important task — that of pro- 
viding an agency through which the sentiment for unity in the 
American churches may find expression in a united Protestant 
Church. 

* For this reason importance attaches to the proposed Conference on Life 
and Work which it is hoped to bring together in the course of the next two or 
three years. This is a conference which, unlike the Conference on Faith and 
Order, aims to deal with present and practical issues. Leaving the divisive 
questions of faith and order in the background, it is proposed to ask what 
the churches as at present organized can do to make the principles of Jesus 
Christ a factor in forming an international public opinion so powerful that 
it cannot be ignored. Committees are being formed in the different countries 
to further this conference. The head of the English committee is the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury; of the Swedish committee, Archbishop Soderblom; of 
the American committee, Dr. Arthur J. Brown. Preliminary conferences are 
being arranged to prepare for it, and in other ways a campaign of education 
is being carried on so that when the conference meets it will have back of it 
the united Christian sentiment of each of the countries represented. Cf. 
"Christian Unity," p. 368. 



PART V 



TRAINING FOR TO-MORROW 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 

1. The Revival of Interest in Religious Education — Its Connection 

with the General Educational Movement — Aspects of 

the Churches Educational Task 

As we have studied the situation which faces the church in 
America we have everywhere been made aware of impending 
changes, of new movements in thought and in practice. We have 
seen much that is inspiring and that gives us ground for hope. Yet 
we are more than ever conscious of the distance which separates 
attainment from ideal. No one of all these movements has yielded 
a result commensurate with its promise. Individuals have been 
earnest and active. Groups have succeeded to a high degree in 
expressing the spirit of true Christianity. But the rank and file of 
church members have for the most part returned to the narrow 
realm of interests from which the war called them. To make satis- 
factory progress with our practical tasks we must capture the imagi- 
nation of these backward Christians. This is the work of Christian 
education. 

In many different quarters, attention is being directed to the 
educational field and experiments are being tried which affect all 
phases of religious education.^ Much time and thought is being 
given to improving methods of religious instruction through the use 
of graded lessons, more modern and better lesson helps, and the 
provision of effective teacher-training classes. Efforts are being 
made to supplement the inadequacy of Sunday schools by pro- 

' For a full account of what is being done in this field compare the forth- 
coming report of the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook on 
"The Teachmg Work of the Church." Much useful information may also be 
found by consulting the files of Christian Education, the official organ of the 
Council of Church Boards of Education, and of Religious Education, the 
organ of the Religious Education Association. Cf. also W. D. MacKenzie 
''The Church and Religious Education," Committee on the War and the 
Rehgious Outlook, New York, 1919. 

279 



280 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

viding week-day religious instruction either by means of some form 
of co-operation with the public schools like the Gary plan, or by 
vacation Bible schools, or other voluntary supplements of the pres- 
ent educational facilities. Some reformers would go farther still 
and substitute for the present Sunday school a church school which 
combines week-day with Sunday instruction as parts of a compre- 
hensive plan, including all that is now being done in the church 
which has educational significance.^ Plans are under way for a 
unified system of religious education in the local community, 
through the co-operation of the local churches with voluntary 
bodies such as the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian 
Associations. Special attention is given to the facilities for ad- 
vanced religious instruction provided by our colleges and theo- 
logical seminaries, as well as to the need of an adequate specialized 
training for lay workers, both men and women. The perplexing 
problems presented to the teacher of religion by the period of 
adolescence are receiving intensive study. 

This many-sided activity is the natural result of our new realiza- 
tion of the power of education as a social force. The example of 
Germany has shown us what can happen to a whole nation because 
of what is taught in its schools. Americans are apt to believe that 
education has some uplifting and purifying power apart from its 
content, and that if we establish enough schools the results will 
necessarily be good. We are learning our mistake. Knowledge is 
simply another name for opportunity. It is so much added power, 
good if rightly used, but in the hands of selfish and designing men 
an added danger. Educate a rascal and you make him more of a 
menace than when he was ignorant. We must not only teach; we 
must teach what is true in order to inspire to what is right. 

This insight conditions the newer ideals in education. We have 
learned that we must not only impart information; we must also 
train character. So the older catechetical method is being super- 
seded by the newer experimental method. The modern teacher 
respects the potentialities of his pupil. He is always looking for 
the larger and more mature self which is presently to emerge. He 
believes that this self may be trusted to form its own judgments 

*The church school so defined must be distinguished from the parochial 
school. In the parochial school the Church as such makes itself responsible 
for the entire education of its children and young people, completely parallel- 
ing the work done in the public or private schools. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 281 

and assume its own responsibilities, and he regards it as his duty 
to hasten the time when this can safely be done. 

We are coming also to understand that education is a social 
process. No human being can be educated alone. In the life of 
the mind as in every other phase of our human activity we are 
members one of another. We not only experiment; we experiment 
together. When we study, we exchange ideas and experiences and 
form our convictions as groups as well as individuals.^ 

These new insights are paralleled in the field of religious educa- 
tion. BushnelPs conception of religious education as nurture of 
the growing personality has been reinterpreted by modern scholars 
who have drawn new material for educational theory from the study 
of the psychology of the religious experience.^ We now understand 
that the Christian teacher is not simply responsible for telling his 
pupils what they ought to believe about Christianity. He must 
try with all possible tact and patience to present the Christian 
view of life in a way that wull command their voluntary assent. 
This is a different and a far harder matter. 

The influence of these ideals of education appears in the organ- 
ization and curriculum of the Sunday school. They affect the meth- 
ods of recruiting and training teachers, the planning and construc- 
tion of the school building, the underlying conception of the rela- 
tion of the school to the church as a whole. Instead of putting 
every one through a single uniform curriculum, advocates of the 
newer methods adapt their teaching to the age of the child. For 
children of four to five they have kindergarten classes, and after- 
ward group the ages in grades that correspond to the groupings of 
secular education. They not only tell stories; they set the children 
thinking about what the stories mean. They not only teach the 
Bible; they try to make their pupils relate what they learn in 
Sunday school to what they are doing at home or at school or at 
their play. They think of the world as a laboratory in which the 
teaching of the school is to be tested, and try to form in their pupils 
habits of independent thought in the field of religion. 

It is, of course, true that in comparison with the total number 
of Sunday schools, the schools in which modem methods are being 

* Cf . the interesting essay by Vera Lachmann, "As Youth Would Have It," 
in The Survey, February 4, 1922. 

^ Cf . especially Coe, "A Social Theory of Religious Education," New York, 
1917. 



282 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

followed are still comparatively few. Even in these they are carried 
out to a very unequal degree. Nevertheless, if we compare the 
educational methods of to-day with those of a generation or even 
of a decade ago, we find real progress. The character of the lesson 
helps and of the training courses for teachers is steadily improving 
and the principle of a graded instead of a uniform system of instruc- 
tion finds increasing acceptance. 

These improved methods appear not only in the work done by 
individual specialists, but in the activities of the official church 
agencies, both denominational and interdenominational. The unity 
movement which we have studied in other branches of the Church's 
work has affected the Sunday school,^ and the contact of different 
points of view has tended, on the whole, to a broader and more 
intelligent approach. The old rivalry of competing agencies has 
been steadily reduced and in most well-organized denominations 
there is a single agency which is responsible for preparing and uni- 
fying the material to be taught. 

But the Sunday school is only a part of the field to be culti- 
vated. We do not stop learning when we leave school. If we wish 
to have a really intelligent church membership we must remember 
the needs of older people. The outlook is not so bright in this 
direction. One of our chief difficulties is due to the contrast between 
the ideal of religion which inspires the teaching in our best Sunday 
schools and the prevailing conditions which the pupils meet when 
they enter the Church.^ Our Protestant ideal of a faith grounded 
in knowledge requires us to conceive of the Church's educational 
task as a whole. 

That task has several aspects, distinct yet intimately related. 
In the first place, it is the Church's duty to win individuals to 
Christ's service by the intelligent presentation of His cause. In the 
second place, the members of the Church must be trained to under- 
stand the religion they profess and to practise what they have 
learned. In the third place, Christianity must be interpreted to the 
wider public in order to create an intelligent opinion in matters 
bearing on the Christian ideal. Finally, constructive thinkers must 

*Cf. p. 240. 

^Any one who has talked with thoughtful parents will realize how great 
this difficulty is and what a handicap to their efforts to win their children 
to the Church is the persistence in the local congregation of methods and 
standards, both intellectual and moral, that fall below those to which the 
child has become accustomed at home and at school. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 283 

be found and trained, not only that the Church may have teachers 
and preachers, but in order that the process of self-criticism which 
is essential to the healthful development of every growing institu- 
tion may be carried on. 

2. Winning Recruits— The Teacher as Evangelist— The Social 
Gospel as Material for a New Educational Evangelism 

Evangelism and education were once contrasted as two inde- 
pendent and separate Christian activities and men used to debate 
which was the more important. This contrast has its roots in a 
false theory of education. Ideas are not something which exist for 
themselves apart from their appeal to the will; they are the raw 
material of character — ^the stuff out of which decisions are made. 

The consciousness of the intimate association between theory 
and practice underlies all modern education. We try to find the 
point of contact between interest and personality. We encourage 
our pupils to ask what things mean, and what they are worth. 
What the evangelist does when he stands on the platform and makes 
his appeal for decision the teacher is now doing. He invites his 
pupil to put truth to the test of action. 

This is eminently true of the religious teacher. He is trying to 
make the fact of God real to his pupils, and the test of his success 
is their response to the presentation of the ideal. His invitation to 
them is that of Philip to Nathanael: "Come and see." He invites 
his students to become familiar with the Bible not primarily because 
it tells us what God did long ago, but because it enables us to 
understand what God is doing now. He urges the practice of prayer 
not simply as a duty but as a privilege, as something that helps us 
to become bigger and better personalities, to find and express our 
truest selves. 

The present emphasis upon religious education is therefore not 
to be understood as a depreciation of the evangelistic spirit. Rather 
is it a plea for another and a better kind of evangelism. The 
trouble with much of the older evangelism was that it was not 
evangelistic enough. It appealed to a part of man and left another 
part out. It tried to grip the will without winning the assent of 
the mind. When Paul urged his converts to bring every thought 
into captivity to the obedience of Christ,^ he gave an admirable 

*II Cor. X, 5. 



284 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

definition of religious education. It is capturing men^s thought for 
Christ. 

Judged by this test, the earlier evangelism had serious limita- 
tions. Many older evangelists failed to recognize the changes in 
men's point of view which had been brought about by modern 
science with its emphasis upon law and its recognition of develop- 
ment. They phrased their message in terms which for many of our 
college-trained young men and women had lost their meaning. 
Thus moving in a world of thought which was unfamiliar to their 
hearers they diverted attention from the immediate duty of the will 
by raising difficulties for the mind. 

These difficulties have been in a measure removed by the new 
theology.^ The new theology accepts the results of modem science 
at their face value, but it shows that they do not alter the essential 
issue which religion raises — that of a man's personal attitude toward 
God. We know to-day that God's way of revealing Himself has 
been more gradual and many-sided than it was once thought to be. 
He comes to us in a different environment from that in which He 
met our fathers and speaks to us in different ways. The new the- 
ology interprets the old phrases of Bible and creed in the light of 
this new environment and illustrates them by analogies taken from 
present life. Thus it recalls the hearer to the main matter with 
which the evangelist is concerned, the immediate issue for the will. 

But, after all, as we have seen, this helps us with a limited num- 
ber of people only, people who have learned to think for themselves 
and who realize the difference between the intellectual world of our 
fathers and the new world of science in which we are living to-day. 
The great majority have no clear-cut philosophy of life. If the 
evangelist fails to grip them it is for a different reason. His failure 
is due to the fact that he does not relate his preaching definitely 
enough to the conditions in which they are living. Uncompromising 
in his dealing with individual vices like drink and impurity, he has 
not been equally searching in his probing of those deeper social 
evils that grow out of the relation of men to one another in industry 
and in politics. His call to repentance has not reached the grasping 
employer or the selfish labor leader or the cynical politician or the 
man who foments suspicion and hate among the nations. We must 
emphasize these phases of man's duty to reach the will of the mod- 

^ Cf . W. Adams Brown, "Modern Theology and the Preaching of the Gos- 
pel," New York, 1914. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 285 

ern man. Education helps us to understand and to deal with them 
discriminately. 

We shall completely misunderstand the group of interests which 
we commonly sum up under the name of the Social Gospel if we 
think of them as in any sense a substitute for the old Gospel of 
individual conversion. They are not a substitute, but an exposi- 
tion. They help us to realize what it means to a modern man to 
be converted.. They do for him what John the Baptist did for the 
converts who had been stirred by his preaching and came to him 
with the searching inquiry, *'What shall we do?" They give a 
clear-cut test by which the sincerity of a man's repentance can be 
tested. 

Our modern Christianity needs such a test. It is still true in 
some parts of the mission field that when a man confesses Christ 
it costs him something. He may risk his home, his property, the 
esteem of his friends, or even life itself; but in our conventional 
churches no such test exists. It costs nothing to join the Church. 
When Edwards preached hellfire men trembled. It was so with 
Finney and with Moody. When Billy Sunday preaches, many 
laugh and troop to shake his hand in the spirit of delegates visiting 
the White House. We need to put the iron back into religion. We 
need some test to determine beyond the shadow of a doubt whether 
a man professing Christianity means business or not. 

Such a test is provided by the Social Gospel. This brings reli- 
gion into daily life and meets a man in the place where he lives six 
days in the week. He is asked to prove his faith by the way he acts 
toward other men, and by the way he uses his property. Such 
decisions are of a piece with the personal choices for which the older 
evangelists made their plea. They bring religion into the realm of 
reality; they associate confession with conduct. 

Education, then, is not a substitute for evangelism, but the 
means by which evangelism may be rendered effective. Education 
furnishes the language which the evangelist must speak, and what is 
more important still, the ideas. Education creates the sympathetic 
relationship between the preacher and those to whom he speaks, 
which is the indispensable condition of a receptive hearing.^ 

*This gives significance to such a volume as "The Church and Industrial 
Reconstruction." It is not simply material for religious education; it is a 
vade mecum for the evangelist. It helps him to visualize the situation in 
which the men to whom he preaches are living. It adds to his catalogue of 



286 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

We need educational evangelists, men who will interpret the 
Gospel to modern men in the situation in which they now find them- 
selves. We cannot wait for men to come to us; we must go after 
them, and that means that we must develop a specialized evangelism 
adapted to the needs of the modern age. Just as the old rescue 
missions established themselves where degradation was deepest and 
addressed men and women in language they could understand, just 
as the Salvation Army developed its particular organization for 
the special work it set out to do, so we must devise agencies which 
can win men to the Social Gospel. 

For this we must call upon men of the same class as those whom 
we would win. Employers must win employers, and labor leaders 
must win labor leaders; editors must influence editors, and lawyers 
must influence lawyers; university professors must gain the alle- 
giance of university professors, and public men that of public men. 
Wherever there are problems to be worked out in the application 
of Christianity to present conditions, we must have men who know 
these conditions and who can speak with the authority which 
knowledge gives. As the work of the Church expands, our responsi- 
bility increases for seeing that the opportunities it offers are made 
known. Every profession must have evangelists bringing their 
technical training and knowledge to bear upon the specialized tasks 
for which they are best fitted. 

This does not mean that the call to Christian service is to be 
resolved into a humanitarian appeal. It is meant that our plea to 
men to surrender their lives to God should grow out of definite 
human needs and carry with it a correspondingly definite objec- 
tive. A man who gives himself to God's service should know ex- 
actly what he is doing and why. What the Student Volunteer 
Movement did for the past generation, we need to do to-day for 
the Church at home. As the foreign-missionary appeal has broad- 
ened until it is heard not only by ministers, but by teachers, doc- 
tors, nurses, settlement workers, and practical men of affairs, so it 
must be in the home field. Such an enlargement of our programme 
will give a new reality and definiteness to the call to Christian 
service. Men and women whom we could not otherwise have 

sins. He is to preach to men not simply as drunkards and wastrels, but as 
men who have been squandering the most precious of all the Father's gifts — 
their chance to do thek part in making the world a better place for all God's 
children to live in. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 287 

reached will be convinced that Christianity is in fact what it pro- 
fesses to be, a religion for every day. 

Above all we must avoid the Pharisaic note. It is not for us to 
decide for others. The most that we can do is to present the oppor- 
tunity as we see it, and let it speak for itself. Each must respond 
as he will and work out the consequences in his own way. 

3. The Church's Responsibility for Educating Its Own Members — 

Special Importance of This in Protestantism — What 

Christians Need to Know about Christianity 

But winning men is only the first step. They must be trained 
after they are won. Unless the body of church members know what 
they believe and are able to give a reason for the faith that is in 
them, it is hopeless to expect them to influence public opinion in 
matters of religion. 

The development of a body of intelligent lay Christians has 
always been the ideal of Protestantism; for Protestantism, as we 
have understood it, stands for democracy in religion. It is based 
upon a double faith, faith in the capacity of the individual to know 
God for himself and faith in the possibility of social action on the 
part of those who share similar religious convictions. Such common 
convictions may be imposed by Catholicism from without. In 
Protestantism they can only be created by a process of education. 

There is no such consensus of conviction in the Protestant 
churches to-day. What is more serious, no adequate steps are 
being taken to secure it. There has been no systematic instruction 
for the average church member in the history of the Christian 
religion, or in the beliefs and ethical ideals of the different Christian 
denominations, or in the present organization and activities of the 
Christian Church. Even the necessary literature is lacking through 
which such information could be obtained. 

This state of things is no doubt mainly due to the fact that in 
our Protestant churches the work of religious education has been 
largely entrusted to the Sunday school. But the great majority of 
our Sunday schools reach only the children and these only for a 
single hour in the week. Young men and young women of college 
age are not present there in any large numbers, although they are 
the very people who most need the kind of teaching we have in 
mind. Other methods must be devised to reach them. The older 



288 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

men and women, too, are facing complicated problems — economic, 
social, and political. They need to know what the Church can teach 
them about ways of applying the principles of the Christian reli- 
gion to such problems. The pulpit must resume its teaching office, 
too long neglected in Protestantism; and through books and the 
public press an extensive educational work be undertaken. Above 
all, the home must be restored to its original function as an agency 
of religious education. 

In saying this we would be the last to depreciate the importance 
of the Sunday school or to minimize the great service which it has 
rendered to the cause of Christian education. Of all the educational 
tasks of the Church, none is comparable in importance to the train- 
ing of the young. It is right that the agency which is charged with 
this duty should be given the central place in the Church's educa- 
tional system. Necessary as it may be to preach the Gospel to 
adults and try to win them to Christ by conversion, the great 
evangelistic opportunity of the Church lies with the children and 
young people who are growing up under Christian influence. All 
that we would insist on here is that the child to be taught is the 
potential man or woman and that the whole process of Christian 
education must be shaped with this in view. 

We may learn a lesson here from the Roman Catholics. For 
years they have been giving special attention to the religious educa- 
tion of laymen. In many a Roman Catholic church you will find a 
little rack at the front door in which is placed a plentiful supply of 
pamphlets setting forth in clear and simple language the teaching 
of the church upon such matters as the sacraments, confession, in- 
dulgences, and the like.^ Anyone who reads these pamphlets will 
learn what the Roman Church teaches on the subjects which are 
regarded as most important in religion. The Protestant layman 
will find no similar means of information in the average Protestant 
church, and the lack of definite textbook instruction is seldom 
supplemented by any clear-cut teaching from the pulpit. Doctrinal 
preaching has fallen out of fashion and expository preaching of the 
old-fashioned kind which took a book of the Bible for its subject 
and led the hearer step by step through its argument is a forgotten 
art. Whereas Protestantism began by aiding the layman to under- 
stand the doctrines and precepts of the Christian religion, while 

* Thousands of these racks have been sold by the Paulist Press of New 
York City. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 289 

the Roman Church deliberately fostered his ignorance, to-day all 
this is reversed. It is the Roman Church which provides instruc- 
tion in religion for its laymen. The Protestant Church too often 
leaves its members to pick up for themselves such knowledge as 
they can. 

This failure is the more serious because there is no other agency 
which feels the responsibility for filling the gap. In most European 
countries, the .colleges and universities include religion among the 
subjects on which they give instruction, but in this country only the 
private and denominational institutions do so. As a result of the 
divorce of church and state, the responsibility for religious education 
has been assumed by the Church and all teaching of religion is 
banished from the public schools.^ The same negative attitude is 
taken in the normal schools and state universities, and while many 
denominational colleges provide required courses in the Bible and 
in the evidences of Christianity, the older Christian universities 
make such instruction entirely voluntary. Thus it comes to pass 
that a generation of young men and women is growing up in the 
country whose only means of learning about Christianity is the 
Sunday school. 

Yet this is a very inadequate provision for so great a need. 
Even in the best of our schools the time given to the study of the 
lesson is seldom more than half an hour, and the instruction is given 
by volunteer teachers. There are multitudes of children whose 
attendance even on this brief course is for a part of the year, and a 
great number are not in Sunday school at all.^ 

A further difiiculty is the impossibility of providing for a com- 
prehensive course of study in the available time. Few of the sub- 

* Sometimes the fear of introducing religious teaching into the schools is 
carried so far that even the reading of the Bible without comment is pro- 
hibited. Elsewhere reading is permitted and in some cases a simple com- 
mentary is added. The subject of the extent to which it is possible for the 
public school to make place for moral and religious instruction without being 
involved in denominational differences is too large to be entered upon here. 

^ Exact statistics on this subject are not available. The statement quoted 
by Dr. John Haynes Holmes on the authority of the Interchurch C'New 
Churches for Old," p. 14) that "three children out of every four in the country 
never receive any religious instruction of any kind" is not supported by the 
best authorities. The figures, to which Dr. Holmes refers, were reached by 
including all children in the country, including infants between the ages of 
one and five. It is obvious that any such basis of calculation is wholly 
misleading. Still, when every allowance has been made, the situation is 
serious enough. 



290 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

jects with which an intelligent Christian ought to be familiar can 
be included in the curriculum of even the best regulated Sunday 
schools. Portions only of the Bible are taught in many of our 
Sunday schools, and these in detached bits not correlated with the 
rest of the book. Of historic and literary interpretation there is 
far too little, and for the later history of the Church, even in its 
most outstanding features, there is seldom time.^ Under these 
conditions, the wonder is not that so many Christians should be 
ignorant of the history and tenets of their own church, but that in 
spite of this ignorance it should be possible for the Church to main- 
tain a vigorous and useful life. 

For consider what a Christian ought to know if he is to be a 
really intelligent church member. He should know something about 
the history of his religion, the past which lies back of it, and the 
relation which it bears to other existing religions; he should be 
familiar with the beliefs which it presupposes, the living convictions 
as to God and His plan for man which inspire Christian activity; 
he should certainly understand the present organization and activi- 
ties of his church, the institutions through which it functions, the 
programme it is trying to realize in the world. Just as we should 
consider an American unfit for citizenship who knew nothing of the 
past history of his country, was ignorant of its present constitution 
and laws, and was out of sympathy with the spirit of its institutions, 
so we should judge a Christian uneducated who is content to remain 
in ignorance of the most elementary facts about his religion and his 
church. 

The teacher's opportunity begins here. He must plan a com- 
prehensive course of study which takes in the most important 
subjects on which the intelligent Christian needs to be informed.^ 
This course must tell the story of the Christian religion. The pupils 
must learn how Christianity began, what stages it has passed 

* It should be stated that the history of the Church is being included in 
some of the recent graded lesson series, such as the Christian Nurture series, 
Scribner's, and the International. 

2 It is encouraging to know that the attempt is being made to provide such 
a comprehensive course of study by such publishers as Scribner's Sons and 
the University of Chicago Press. The new denominational courses like the 
Christian Nurture Series and the new Beacon Series are also making serious 
efforts in the same direction. The same is true of the International Graded 
series, published by the Congregationalists, Methodists, and Southern Metho- 
dists, and used by others. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 291 

through, and under what forms it exists in the world to-day. They 
must study the Bible, of course, but they must not stop with the 
Bible. They must be famihar with the history that came out of 
the Bible and with the effects which faith in Christ has since pro- 
duced in the lives of men. They must know the Church as a present 
factor in human society; not their own particular branch of the 
Church only, but the other churches which together make up the 
one great Church. This is a study which cannot be finished in 
Sunday school. It is something at which we must be working all 
our lives. It requires the co-operation of all the different agencies 
at our disposal — the minister in his pulpit, the missionary societies 
and the Christian Associations with their literature, the press which 
keeps pace with the present progress of the Kingdom of God. The 
point is that the Sunday-school curriculum should be planned with 
this later study in view and that provision should be made through 
other agencies of the churches to carry further what the Sunday 
school begins. 

At two points in particular there is need of more thorough in- 
struction. In the first place, we need instruction in the beliefs which 
Christianity presupposes. Our age is characterized by an extraor- 
dinary dislike of doctrinal teaching, w^hich is in part a natural and 
justifiable reaction against an earlier attempt to enforce uniformity 
of belief by external authority. This dislike has had unforeseen and 
lamentable results. In our reaction against the creeds of the past a 
generation has been brought up to believe that creeds can be dis- 
pensed with altogether, or, if this prove impossible, that each indi- 
vidual can improvise his own creed without regard to what his pre- 
decessors have believed. 

To break so completely with our own past would be to lose one 
of the most precious of all the gifts of the Christian religion — ^the 
fellowship into which it introduces us with those who have explored 
the mysteries of life before us. Christianity, we must never allow 
ourselves to forget, does not offer us simply the satisfaction of our 
own individual needs. It brings us insights which have been pro- 
gressively verified through the centuries. Christian faith is a com- 
mon faith, just as the Christian task is a common task. Theology, 
as the study which interprets the historic beliefs of the Christian 
religion, must be a part of Christian teaching. We must know what 
convictions the Christian faith implies, to what courses of action 
it commits us, and upon what grounds it is based. These subjects 



292 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

should be of interest to every intelligent person, and they can be 
presented so as to command that interest. 

Whoever has faced in an intimate and personal way the mystery 
of life will be thankful to any one who can help him to an assurance 
that at the heart of things there is a Spirit who answers to his spirit, 
a God, personal, moral. Christlike, to whom he can look up in 
prayer and from whom he may receive strength in his struggle for 
the good. He will welcome convincing evidence that the Christian 
recognition of Christ as Saviour, Master, and Friend is valid; that 
Jesus' ideal of a new social order in which helpfulness is the rule 
and service the test of greatness is a practicable ideal. 

This evidence is in the last analysis the history of the Christian 
religion itself. The proof that there is a good God like Jesus Christ 
is the fact that men are living in the faith that the good God exists 
and are finding satisfaction in so living. The proof that Chris- 
tianity is a practicable religion is the fact that it is actually being 
practised and that when it is practised the expected results 
follow.^ 

An intelligent church member should therefore be acquainted 
with the agencies through which the Church's activities are now 
being carried on in the world. Christianity has been the mother of 
institutions, and these institutions are functioning to-day, offering 
the modern Christian opportunities for service which he could not 
have alone. Among these the most important is the Church itself 
in all the many-sided activities which we have been passing in 
review. 

It is, of course, true that the Church is not the only agency 
through which the Christian ideal is being realized in society. Each 
of the different institutions which man has devised to express and 
further his social relations has its part to play in the creation of the 
new social order — the family, the school, the courts, the complex 
machinery of industry, commerce and finance, literature and the 
arts, the state. Without their co-operation the Christian ideal for 
society could not be realized. Protestantism has recognized the 
sacredness of all life and permits men to regard every calling as a 
form of ministry. But the fact remains that there is no other human 
institution except the Church which has for its sole function the 
promotion of man's higher spiritual life. If we wish to gain an 

* For a brief statement of the evidence for this belief cf . W. Adams Brovm, 
"Is Christianity Practicable?", New York, 1916. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 293 

adequate conception of the forces which are working for social 
betterment, it is essential that we should understand the Church. 

Our Protestant teaching has hitherto conspicuously failed to 
bring about such an understanding. In our reaction against Roman 
Catholicism we have conceived a deep-rooted suspicion of institu- 
tional religion. This has extended even to those institutions in 
which the Gospel has found social expression in Protestantism. 
Certain branches of the Church, notably the Church of England 
and the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, have retained a 
strong churchly feeling which affects the character of their religious 
teaching; but this is not true of the great majority of Protestants. 
Religion has meant to them primarily a relationship between the 
individual soul and God. The significance of Christian institutions, 
even their own, has not been adequately apprehended. 

Thus it has come about that in planning courses of religious 
study Protestant teachers have not paid sufficient attention to what 
God has been doing through the Church since the year 100 a.d. 
The old word of Chillingworth about the Bible may or may not be 
true of Protestant religion, but it has certainly been true of Protes- 
• tant education. The Bible and the Bible alone has been the text- 
book of Protestants. A generation has grown up almost completely 
ignorant of the history of the Church since post-Biblical times and 
of the forms in which Christianity finds organized expression in the 
world to-day. For this lack we are suffering to-day in many ways — 
most of all in that we have developed among Protestant Christians 
so little intelligent consciousness of the Church as a whole. As a 
' ' result we lack a public opinion strong enough to support those who 
are trying to unify the churches. To create this opinion we must 
teach our people the history of the Christian Church and help them 
to understand the origin and present significance of the main forms 
of contemporary Christianity. 

A good point of departure is the history of missions, for missions 
furnish at once one of the most interesting and one of the most in- 
structive manifestations of contemporary Christianity. In foreign 
missions we see the Christian Church making earnest with the ideal 
of world-wide evangelism, facing the divisive influences of race, of 
class, and of nationality, and overcoming them in original and sug- 
gestive ways. Here, too, we learn how much this effort is ham- 
pered by our denominational differences; in what practical ways 
the need of Christian unity makes itself felt. 



294 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

In home missions we find the same difiiculties facing us in per- 
sonal and embarrassing ways. The study of the literature of mod- 
ern home missions will dispel the complacency of many a conven- 
tional Christian and make him realize, if he has not already done 
so, that the most difficult mission fields in the world are not China 
or India or Japan, but American cities like New York and Chicago, 
where all the races of the world meet and where the problems of 
industrial strife, race rivalry, and national ambition confront us in 
their most extreme and perplexing forms. It is encouraging to 
know that through the agencies we have already described so much 
is already being done to inform modern American Christians of 
the present state of the missionary problem both at home and 
abroad. Through the agencies of missionary education the subject 
of the modern Church is finding its way into the Sunday-school 
curriculum and a large and constantly increasing literature is com- 
ing into existence which is indispensable to the understanding of 
present-day Christianity. 

No less important than the study of the history of the Church is 
an understanding of the Church's existing organization and methods. 
It has been suggested that the ignorance of the average Christian 
on these points is a good sign, for it shows how loosely denomina- 
tional ties sit upon him. Yet the fact remains that whether we 
realize it or not, the denominational differences of the various 
Protestant churches are serious obstacles to unity, and that these 
differences will never be overcome until the individual Christian 
takes the trouble to understand them. 

One difficulty in the way of interesting the average Christian in 
the study of Christian institutions is the denominational spirit. 
This spirit treats the part as if it were the whole. The Presbyterian 
is taught something about the laws and creeds of Presbyterianism, 
the Episcopalian of Episcopacy, etc., but such an isolated study is 
neither sufficiently informing nor inspiring. Differences can only 
be understood through comparison. If one could study his own 
church not as an isolated phenomenon, but as an example of a type 
of organization which has recurred from age to age and from coun- 
try to country, he would begin to understand its true significance. 
It is especially important that we should study sympathetically the 
types that are not congenial to us. Thus the liberal should under- 
stand the conservative and the conservative the liberal. The Epis- 
copalian should comprehend the genius of the non-liturgical 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 295 

churches, and the Christian who does not use the liturgy should 
realize what the sacrament means to the high-church Episcopalian. 
Only through such sympathetic study of contrasted types can we 
create intelligent public sentiment and prepare the way for the 
larger unity to which we look forward. 

It is vital that we should teach our people the meaning of wor- 
ship. Worship is the very heart of the Christian religion. In wor- 
ship we practise the presence of God and realize not only that He 
is, but that He is with us. Unless we can learn to worship together, 
all our other approaches to Christian unity stop short of the mark. 
Yet there is no part of our Christian practice in which there is a 
greater lack of common understanding. The two main types of 
approach, the liturgical and the non-liturgical, each have their 
difficulties and limitations, yet each seems the expression of some 
deep-seated human need for which provision must be made in the 
Church of the future. How important it is, then, that Christians 
should be trained to understand and appreciate both forms of wor- 
ship, and above all that those who lead in worship should feel their 
responsibility for cultivating that mingled reverence and intelligence 
which is the proper attitude in which to approach the object of 
Christian devotion.^ 

Above all we must familiarize our people with the movement for 
Christian unity. We have seen how vigorous and deep-rooted it is; 
in how many different forms it manifests itself. Yet comparatively 
few Christians have ever made it the subject of serious study. 
Few could even name the existing agencies for promoting unity, 
much less tell what each is doing and why. Without such intelli- 
gent understanding on the part of the laymen of our churches, the 
support that is necessary to the success of the unity movement will 
not be forthcoming. Not until they study the situation for them- 
selves and realize how progress is hindered by imperfect methods of 
organization will an interest be aroused which will make the neces- 
sary changes possible. 

4. The Church's Responsibility for Forming Public Opinion in 
Matters Bearing upon the Christian Ideal 

The training of its own members in the principles of their reli- 
gion does not exhaust the Church's educational responsibility. 

^Cf. W. Adams Brown, "Worship," Association Press, New York, 1917. 



296 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Besides the special groups who are gathered in congregations and 
the individuals who can be won by an evangelistic appeal, there are 
individuals and groups outside any ecclesiastical organization who 
help to form that potent force we call public opinion. There are 
earnest people who for one reason or another have been alienated 
from the Church and yet are working unselfishly for worthy causes 
through other agencies. There are larger masses of thoughtless and 
unimaginative people ready to respond to any passing impulse who, 
because they have no deep and settled conviction, become the easy 
prey of propaganda carried on by selfish and narrow interests. To 
each of these groups the Church has a duty. The children in our 
Sunday schools, the young men and women in our congregations 
must study and work and play in the atmosphere which public 
opinion creates, and will be helped or hindered in their efforts after 
the Christian life according to the standards of the society in which 
they move. Christians who are members of contemporary social 
agencies, industrial, commercial, and political, must share with 
those who are not Christians the responsibility for common action 
in national and international affairs. It is essential, therefore, that 
the Church should do everything possible to elevate public stand- 
ards so that the conduct of church members as citizens and workers 
may not contradict their profession as religious believers. Above 
all it is essential that the Church should appeal to the widest possible 
public because in this public are found the men and women who 
might be won to the Christian cause, but who now hold aloof either 
because of indifference or of misunderstanding. 

In the foreign field the primary work of the Christian teacher 
is with those who have grown up in non-Christian surroundings and 
who approach the deeper questions of life without sharing the Chris- 
tian presuppositions. In preparation for such work much time 
must be given to discovering points of contact and in finding words 
and, what is even more important, ideas which will convey the 
Christian message.^ 

A similar situation meets us at home. The world of organized 
religion is still an unknown country to multitudes of people. It is 

^An eminent Chinese missionary, the late Dr. Jones of Shantung, spent 
most of his life in making a dictionary of Chinese philosophical terms because 
he was persuaded that without the aid of the exact phraseology which such a 
dictionary would give, it would be impossible for the Christian teacher to 
convey the Christian beliefs about God and Jesus Christ to educated Chmese; 
in such a way that tl;iey would be really understood. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 297 

not simply that they are not church members or that they have 
difficulties with this or that doctrine; they have lost touch with 
Christianity altogether. They do not take it into their account as a 
factor with which as intelligent and conscientious persons they 
have to reckon. 

Some who are alienated from Christianity owe their present 
condition to ignorance. They have been brought up in homes where 
the Christian religion was ignored and the Church treated as negligi- 
ble. They have found satisfaction for their higher impulses in the 
pursuit of science or in the service of some one of the many causes 
in which the spirit of altruism expresses itself to-day. Others know 
the Church only too well and have reacted against what they regard 
as its narrowness and superstition. Both alike need what Chris- 
tianity at its best can give. It is our business to find out where 
these people are, to gain a point of contact with them, and to create 
the language through which the Gospel message may be conveyed 
to their minds. 

So far as this problem concerns those who are already in educa- 
tional institutions, we shall come back to it in a later chapter.^ 
Both in connection with the public schools and the state universi- 
ties, we have already faced the fact of a secularized education and 
the problem it presents. Even among those who have been educated 
in Christian colleges there are many whose acquaintance with the 
Bible and with Christian truth is so superficial as to be practically 
negligible, and the problem how to reach them and interest them in 
the Christian religion is one whose importance it is difficult to 
exaggerate. 

We are thinking here, however, primarily of the persons who are 
not readily accessible through the ordinary educational channels — 
business men associated in their chambers of commerce and manu- 
facturers' associations; workers in the various philanthropic and 
reform associations which are concerned with the betterment of 
human society ; members of labor unions and of the various organi- 
zations representing more radical opinion, like the Socialists and 
the members of the I. W. W. Lawyers and doctors should not be 
neglected, nor the journalists who play so large a part in moulding 
public opinion. These are all factors to be considered by those who 
believe that the Church has a Gospel for the whole of society and 

^Cf. Chapter XV, 



298 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

commands forces which it is a duty to mobilize for the welfare of 

the race. 

Apart from the general interest of the Church in establishing 
contact with every group to which human beings look for moral 
and intellectual stimulus, there is an added reason why a teaching 
Church should take account of what is being done in these circles. 
They, too, are becoming educational agencies. Partly uncon- 
sciously, partly of set purpose, they are forming the beliefs of men 
for the purpose of shaping their activities. Sometimes this is done 
in a superficial or even dangerous way as propaganda in defence 
of preconceived opinions, but in many cases a higher motive is 
operative and a more serious purpose is manifest. Both in labor ^ 
and in business ^ circles serious study is being undertaken on such 
subjects as the conditions of human welfare, the relation of capital 
and labor, the nature and limits of the responsibility of the state, 
and an attitude of mind is being developed which opens the way to 
the consideration of the great themes of religion. 

To this new spirit, wherever it may be found, the Church must 
appeal. We must show men what the churches are actually doing 
in the field of social service and public morals. We must frankly 
confess wherein the churches have failed and are failing. Above 
all, we must define our ideal and invite the co-operation of all men 
of goodwill in its realization. 

For this we shall need to create a new literature of interpreta- 
tion. It is characteristic of a living religion like Christianity that 
it must always be inventing a new language in which to say over 
again the old truths. Even for Christians the old books will not do. 
We are continually finding the need of new ones. How much more 
for those who do not understand our Christian language and need 
to begin from the beginning? 

When we speak of literature we are not thinking primarily of 
books. These have their place and we need them.^ We are thinking 

'Cf. the Report of the Proceedings of the First National Conference on 
Workers' Education in the United States Held at the New York School for 
Social Research, New York City, April 2-3, 1921. Workers' Education Bureau 
of America, New York, 1921. 

^Cf. the recent report of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce on the 
relation between capital and labor, New York Times, February 5, 1922. 

^Of our need of more and better Christian literature we have already 
spoken. In our output of reading matter there are surprising and lamentable 
gaps. Individual scholars are making their contributions in the field where 
their primary interest lies, but there is no one who is responsible for survey- 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 299 

of the literature of the people, the daily press and the periodicals. 
We need to use this tool far more than we have yet done for purposes 
of Christian education. 

One agency whose possibilities have not as yet been adequately 
developed is the denominational religious press. As at present 
conducted this reaches for the most part only readers of its own 
communion and with notable exceptions has thus far been too 
largely concerned with local and denominational interests to make 
possible a comprehensive treatment of the larger elements of church 
life. Opportunity for a more thoroughgoing discussion is furnished 
by such interdenominational journals as the Constructive Quarterly 
and the International Review of Missions, as well as by such week- 
lies as the Christian Work, the Christian Century, and others which 
appeal to a public outside the denomination. But there are many 
phases of the co-operative movement which still lack adequate inter- 
pretation. Is it too much to ask that the religious editors of the 
country should together face their responsibility for Christian edu- 
cation? They stand at the strategic point where denominational 
and interdenominational interests meet. They have access to a 
public which can be reached in no other way. Has not the time 
come when they should use this contact to interpret the different 
phases of the co-operative movement to their constituency more 
fully than has yet been done?^ 

The religious press at best reaches a limited public. For form- 
ing public opinion the secular press is the natural point of approach. 
The columns of the daily papers are open to all religious matters 
which have news value. Let the Church do or say something of 
general public interest, and the columns of every daily in the coun- 
try will be open to it. When an Edinburgh Conference is held, or a 
campaign for national prohibition is initiated, there is no difficulty 
in securing all the space that is needed. The case of the Interchurch 
Steel Report and the recent campaign of the churches for limitation 
of armaments is evidence of this.^ 

ing the field as a whole and determining where the gaps are which need to be 
filled. The beginnings of such co-operation have, to be sure, been brought 
about in the field of missionary literature, but it needs to be carried much 
farther and applied in all other departments of the Church's work. 

^ An effort to secure such co-operation has been made by the Federal 
Council through the creation of the Editorial Council of the Religious Press. 

^ In the Christian Monitor the Christian Scientists have given us an exam- 
ple of what can be done to make the daily press an organ of religious educa- 



300 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Most promising, because more carefully read, is the periodical 
press. The leading weeklies and monthlies are open to a sympa- 
thetic treatment of religion and nothing would do more to bring the 
interests we have at heart to the attention of thoughtful people 
than the preparation of a series of articles which should interpret 
in the language of to-day the spirit of the Church at its best. 

One more field for Christian education may be mentioned, and 
that is our legislatures and the politicians who control them. There 
are difficult and delicate questions to be considered. The well- 
established principle of the free state and the free church must not 
be imperilled. But if political action threatens the ideals to which 
the Church is committed, the Church must find some way to protest. 
The power of the Church has been shown in the field of private 
morals in connection with the battle against drink and commercial- 
ized vice. A similar demonstration may be required in the field of 
public morals where evils cut still deeper and do even more harm. 

It is not, however, in the advocacy of particular political meas- 
ures that the most effective contribution of the Church to political 
education is to be made. Rather is it in the cultivation of that spirit 
of faith and goodwill which is the condition of any large measure 
of social progress. As Christians we are committed to the ideal of 
a world-wide society in which men of different races and nations 
may find it possible to live in co-operation and sympathy. There 
are multitudes of people who. believe in this ideal and would be glad 
to work for it. But they have been told so often that it is imprac- 

tion, and their experiment is well worth *studying by all who recognize the 
increasing power of the press in forming the thought life of the American 
people. 

A promising field which has been far too little cultivated is the county 
press. A suggestive experiment is being carried on by the New Jersey Herald, 
which conducts a department called "The Listener's Bench," in which a well- 
known minister brings a weekly religious message to those who for one reason 
or another are out of touch with the Church. The purpose of the new depart- 
ment was announced as follows: "Frankly, this is to be the religious depart- 
ment of the Herald. In its other columns expression is given to the political, 
social, and commercial life of our town and county. And it is fitting, yes, 
necessary, if this or any newspaper is to meet all the needs of the individual 
human being, that provision shall be made for those deep, universal, abiding 
interests that we call religious. And so from week to week the editor and his 
collaborators will present in this particular space a few brief paragraphs in the 
hope that they may bring something of understanding, consolation, courage 
to men and women who, in spite of all burdens and obstacles, want to travel 
bravely and to arrive." The department has now been carried on for some 
months and the response from people of all sorts has been most encouraging. 



THE CHURCH AS A SCHOOL OF RELIGION 301 

ticable and find in influential quarters so many who repudiate it 
that they are beginning to lose their faith and to turn regretfully 
but deliberately to more attainable aims. They need the assistance 
of organized religion— a renewal of faith through the reaffirmation 
of the Christian ideal, a reinforcement of will through fellowship 
with men who are convinced that Christ's way is practicable and 
who live in this faith. This help the Church should give. 



CHAPTER XV 

FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 

1. The Problem of Educational Leadership in Protestantism — 

Fields in which Religious Leadership is Needed— The 

Church's Responsibility for Finding and Training 

Constructive Thinkers in the Field of Religion 

In the preceding chapter we have recognized the central impor- 
tance of education for the progress of the Church. We have seen 
that it is the duty of the churches not simply to instruct their mem- 
bers, present and prospective, in the nature of the Christian reli- 
gion, but to interpret the Christian ideal to individuals and social 
groups out of touch with organized Christianity. We have noted 
the need of a new educational evangelism and pointed out some of 
the work which this new evangelism might undertake. But where 
are the workers to come from and how are they to be trained? 

It is clear that they cannot come from the ministry alone. The 
undertaking is far too large for this. Nor can they be supplied by 
those who are specializing in religious education. The whole work 
of the Christian Church is an educational work, and its teachers 
must be drawn from every walk in life. Fathers and mothers, 
employers and workers, teachers in the technical sense and the 
pupils they teach— all are the Church's educational material, the 
reserves from which it must draw its recruits. 

This enlarged conception of Christian service, forced upon us by 
the pressure of the times, is a return to the original ideal of Protes- 
tantism, which affirms the universal priesthood of believers. Not 
all Christians are called to the ministry in the technical sense, but 
all alike share the primary Christian duties of evangelism and edu- 
cation. Protestantism expects every convert to be a missionary, 
and that means that every convert must be a teacher. The two 
things go together. The appeal to accept Christ and enlist in His 
service implies a knowledge of what Christ is and what He requires. 

The witness must be an interpreter. 

302 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 303 

What is true of Christians in general is pre-eminently true of 
those who have gifts of leadership. We need men of such gifts not 
simply to do definite work, but to show us what more needs to be 
done and how. The teacher's function, as we now see it, is not 
merely to impart what he knows, but to encourage his pupils to join 
him in the search for what still remains to be known. Research 
shares with instruction the time of the modern teacher, and our 
great universities are employing men and women who give their 
time to this and to nothing else. 

It should be the same in religion. We are dealing with a grow- 
ing and expanding religious life. God's work in the world is not 
finished. New light is breaking forth from the world of nature and 
from the world of human life. The Bible means more to us than 
to our fathers and will mean still more to our children. The Church 
is not a fixed but a developing institution. It is passing through 
significant changes and is creating untried forms. We have too few 
leaders to interpret the significance of this process of change. What 
is even more serious, we do little to develop and utilize the leaders 
we have. 

With the single exception of the provision of an earnest and 
competent ministry, incomparably the most important of the edu- 
cational tasks of the Church is to give its own children and young 
people an intelligent understanding of the Christian religion. It is 
the most important in bulk, for it affects by far the largest number 
of teachers; it is the most important in consequences, for it is the 
foundation on which all subsequent work of a specialized character 
must be built. The number of persons engaged in Sunday-school 
teaching in this country at the present time runs into the hundreds 
of thousands, and of these all but a negligible fraction are ama- 
teurs. Obviously, then, one of the Church's most important duties 
is to find teachers of the proper character and ability and train 
them to do their work effectively. We cannot any longer take it 
for granted that every one is competent to be a good Sunday-school 
teacher. If it takes time and training to fit oneself to teach geog- 
raphy or mathematics, it is certainly not less necessary to make 
careful preparation for teaching the incomparably more important 
and difficult subject of religion. We must find persons who are 
willing to give the necessary time to preparation and we must pro- 
vide teachers competent to train them. 

The Church's aid is also needed by that larger company whose 



304 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

work in religious education begins even earlier,— the parents in 
our homes. Without the co-operation of the home the work of the 
best teacher is handicapped; and yet in how many cases that 
co-operation is lacking. Many parents do not recognize the extent 
of their responsibility for guiding their children's thoughts about 
religion, but did they recognize this duty they would lack the train- 
ing to do so. We have communicants' classes for children and 
young people. Is it not quite as important and quite as feasible 
to have classes for the parents of these children? Why should not 
a parents' class be a feature in every well-organized church 
school?^ There are difficulties of time and place, no doubt; yet 
surely the love of parents for children and their sense of obligation 
toward the growing life should make it possible to overcome these 

difficulties. 

Of the need of lay leadership in the effort to apply the prm- 
ciples of Christianity to our contemporary political and industrial 
life we have spoken elsewhere. It is important, however, that we 
should remind ourselves how much preparation is required for such 
leadership. The question naturally arises whether in view of the 
magnitude of the demands made upon the churches in this most 
difficult field it will be possible to secure adequate service from 
volunteers. In religious education the impossibility of depending 
upon volunteer help is generally recognized. Men and women are 
fitting themselves to teach religion in our colleges and preparatory 
schools and to take charge of the educational activities of indi- 
vidual congregations as Sunday-school superintendents and direc- 
tors of religious education. Should not the same be true in the 
field of applied Christianity? Why should not the churches set 
apart men and women to give their lives to the study of the mdus- 
trial question, or the race question, or the international question 
from the Christian point of view? Something has already been 
done in our social service commissions and similar agencies, both 
denominational and interdenominational, but when we consider the 
greatness of the opportunity we cannot but feel that we are only 
at the beginning of what may become a development of great 
significance. 

' There is such a parents' class in the Union School of Religion the practice 
school conducted by the Department of Religious Education of the Union 
Theological Seminary in New York City. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 305 

The most obvious and best recognized field of Christian leader- 
ship is, of course, the Church itself. We have seen what a great 
enterprise the Christian Church has become, what vast resources 
it commands, what a varied work it carries on at home and abroad. 
Considered simply as a business enterprise the missionary work of 
the American Protestant churches is immense. When to the rais- 
ing and expending of many millions of dollars annually we add the 
cost of administering the home churches, the responsibility of our 
church leaders is apparent. 

But the business side of the churches' work is the least part of 
their responsibility. They shape policies which affect the spiritual 
life of millions of men. They conduct a great educational enter- 
prise containing in its classes twenty million persons. They are 
the ambassadors of an international brotherhood which has no 
boundaries of race or nation. Above all, they maintain an insti- 
tution of worship which lifts men's hearts to the God of all the 
earth and reveals their spiritual kinship with one another. The 
men who control the policies of such an institution have a respon- 
sibility second to none, and the problem of their selection and 
training is of pressing importance. 

This problem meets us in its most acute form in connection 
with the local congregation. All the different interests of the Church 
at large impinge at last upon the group of men and women who 
find the centre of their spiritual life in the local church. What the 
great Church is doing is known to them only through their own 
particular section of the Church, and the man who is responsible 
for bringing such knowledge to them is the local minister. He is 
at once preacher, pastor, leader of worship, administrator, mission- 
ary, social-service worker, and teacher. Or, if he be not all of 
these himself, he is responsible for seeing that each of these in- 
terests is properly cared for by persons duly chosen and trained 
for the purpose. The tone of the Church at large will not conspicu- 
ously rise above the tone of the individual minister. The recruit- 
ing of a competent ministry and the provision of proper facilities 
for its training becomes therefore a paramount interest for the 
Church as a whole. 

What is true of the local minister is true a fortiori of the greater 
Church to which his congregation belongs. Its multiform activities 
require the services of a numerous staff. The boards of home and 



306 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

foreign missions need competent executives ; so also do the educa- 
tional agencies of the denominations. Apart from the admimstra- 
tive work done by volunteers which, in many cases, is very heavy, 
the regular business of each denomination occupies the full time of 
a greater or lesser number of persons, while besides the administra- 
tive work of the different denominations there is the wide field of 
interdenominational activity as it is carried on by the Federal 
Council, the Home Missions Council, the Foreign Missions Con- 
ference, the Council of Church Boards of Education, the Inter- 
national Sunday School Council of Religious Education, and the 
different state or local federations. Most of these require the un- 
divided service of able men and women. 

Thus far the Church has made meagre provision for the prepa- 
ration of those who are to hold these responsible positions. They 
have been drawn mostly from the active pastorate. Latterly, how- 
ever, the number of persons who have chosen the administrative 
service of the Church as a life work has increased, and the need of 
specialized training for them has been accentuated. Such training 
is necessary not simply to fit them for the technical work they 
have to do (that can be learned by practice as it is learned m 
other businesses and professions) but to give them the breadth of 
outlook and background of knowledge which will enable them to 
act wisely in the important matters which are constantly coming 

up for decision. 

This brings us to the last of the Church's educational responsi- 
bilities, that of developing constructive thinkers in the field of 
religion. Such constructive thinkers are needed to guide the Church 
in its planning for the future, and this all along the line. We need 
them to instruct and inspire the younger generation who have been 
taught in the university to prove all things and need to be assured 
that a man can be a good Christian and yet keep an honest mind. 
They are required to assist the older men and women m the wise 
use of the resources which they control and to win to the Church 
the individuals and the groups now alienated through misunder- 
standing or ignorance. Above all they are necessary to furnish our 
executives with the technical knowledge through which alone a 
missionary programme for the Church as a whole can be wisely 

developed. 

Where are these thinkers to be found? Clearly wherever men 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 307 

and women exist with capacities which fit them for this unique 
service. 

There are four sources of supply to which we would naturally 
turn for constructive thought in the realm of religion: our theologi- 
cal seminaries; our colleges and universities; our ministry; the 
leaders of our missionary and ecclesiastical organizations. In each 
case we find that the energies which should be given to work of this 
kind are largely diverted to what seem to be more pressing tasks. 
Our theological teachers recognize their responsibility for research 
in the field of religion, but hitherto their main energies have been 
devoted to the history and criticism of the past. They have not 
• as yet to any considerable extent made the living Church the sub- 
ject of their critical inquiry. Our college and university professors 
are active in research along many different lines, but thus far they 
. have failed to give adequate attention to the claims of religion as 
a subject of scientific investigation. Our ministers in America 
(unlike their colleagues in Scotland where the scholarly tradition 
is bred in the bone) find themselves almost immediately immersed 
in a multitude of details from which it is all but impossible to extri- 
cate themselves. The same pressure of detail hampers those who 
ought, of all men, to be most free to devote themselves to con- 
structive religious thinking— our missionary and ecclesiastical 
leaders. 

Evidently one of the most important parts of the Church's 
educational work is to direct the attention of those in responsible 
official positions to the need of finding men and women who have 
the capacity for constructive thought and of setting them free for 
this indispensable service. Without such thoughtful leadership, 
effective action on a large scale is impossible. In the university,' 
teaching and research go hand in hand; it should be the same in 
the Church. 

In the light of these general considerations we must consider 
the Church's responsibility for the training of its leaders. This is 
not a responsibility which can be assumed by the theological semi- 
nary alone or by the institutions which fit men and women for 
specialized forms of church work. It rests also upon our colleges 
and universities. Above all, it is the responsibility of the living 
and working Church which, in its present activities, is the greatest 
of all educational institutions, the laboratory in which all the 
theories of the schools must be tested. 



308 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

2. Agencies Available for the Higher Religious Education of 
Laymen— The Responsibility of Our Colleges and Univer- 
sities for the Teaching of Religion.^ 

Among the agencies to which we must look for help in our 
effort to secure adequate religious leadership our colleges and 
imiversities hold a foremost place. Our ability to do what needs 
to be done will depend largely upon the attitude of the men who 
are responsible for shaping the policies of these institutions. It is 
important, therefore, for us to understand just what this attitude 
is and what chance there is of securing their effective and intelli- 
gent co-operation. 

What, then, have we a right to ask of our colleges and univer- 
sities in the way of religious education? For one thing we have a 
right to ask that they give to every student who comes under their 
influence some intelligent conception of the place of religion in 
human life, the part which it has played in history and the insti- 
tutions through which it functions to-day. We have a right to 
ask further that they give their students such an acquaintance 
with the contents of the Bible as will make them at home in its 
great passages and furnish those who care to carry the study 
farther the foundation of knowledge which will fit them to become 
teachers of the Bible to others. We have a right to ask that at 
some appropriate place in the course each student find a sympa- 
thetic treatment of the intellectual difficulties in the way of faith 
and the attitude of the great thinkers of the past who have found 
a reasonable faith possible. Finally, we have a right to ask that 
they awaken in a certain proportion of the abler students such an 
interest in the larger aspects of religion as will fit them for leader- 
ship in the Church in one or other of the lines we have just 

indicated. 

In some of our colleges and universities these conditions are to 
a large degree realized. In others little or nothing is done to secure 
them. In far too few has the problem been seriously faced and 
the full responsibility of the institution accepted. To understand 
the situation in its varying aspects a brief historical retrospect is 
necessary. 

'Cf Foster, "Religion in American Universities," Christian Education, 
June 1921 ; "Schools of Religion at State Universities," Christian Education, 
April, 1922; Thompson, "Christian Education in Colleges and Universities," 
Christian Work, February 18, 1922. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 309 

In the earlier educational history of this country the teaching 
of religion played a prominent part. The original impulse to the 
establishment of the older colleges was the desire to furnish facili- 
ties for the education of a competent ministry. Theology was 
taught as a college subject and all students were expected to 
study it, not only those who looked forward to the ministry as a 
profession. Later the seminary was separated from the college 
and became a professional school either entirely independent of 
the college, with a governing board of its own, or in affiliation with 
the institution of which it had originally been an integral part. 

This change was due in part to the natural tendency toward 
speciahzation which was felt in all the professions; in part to the 
increase in the number of college graduates who looked forward 
to business as their life work. It was accompanied by a change 
in men's attitude toward formal creeds and by the growth of a 
more liberal, not to say lax, view of religion. With the weakening 
of the older conception of the Church's authority, the instruction 
in our colleges and universities tended more and more to confine 
itself to science and the humanities, leaving formal instruction in 
religion to be provided by the churches through voluntary agencies 
or in institutions definitely under church control. A system of 
secularized higher education continued the secular education of the 
public schools. The establishment of the state universities was an 
important step in this process, but it was only one element in a 
larger movement. In the older private institutions of the East, 
founded by Christian people for definitely religious purposes and 
still Christian in character and spirit, changes were taking place 
which restricted the time given to formal instruction in religion. 
An increasingly large number of students graduated who possessed 
but the slightest acquaintance with theology and the history of 
the Church. The more strictly denominational colleges, on the 
other hand, continued to require the study of religion by all 
students, and emphasized the responsibility of the college to win 
each student, as far as possible, to the Christian faith.^ 

In analyzing the present attitude of our colleges and universities 

^The report of the Standardization Committee on Biblical Departments 
for 1921 lists 307 colleges and universities giving instruction on religious 
subjects (including the Bible). They are divided into four grades according 
to the quality of the instruction given, of which A includes 88 institutions B 
51, C 102, and D 66. 



310 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

toward religion we have to distinguish three different kinds of 
institutions: the state universities, powerful institutions with great 
prestige, large financial resources, and many thousands of students, 
from which until recently all formal teaching of religion has been 
banished; the strictly denominational institutions, usually much 
smaller and less well endowed, though not necessarily less efficient 
within the field of their choice, in many of which at least a certain 
amount of religious instruction is required of all students ; ^ and 
the privately supported colleges and universities in the older parts 
of the country. These are still Christian in sympathy and include 
religion among their subjects of instruction, but they do not ordi- 
narily require it as part of the conditions necessary for graduation.^ 
As the state universities gained in strength and prestige, not a 
few Christian people came to look upon them as godless institu- 
tions from which no help could be expected for training young peo- 
ple for an active religious life. Appeals on behalf of denomina- 
tional colleges were often based upon the irreligious character of 
the state universities. The attempt was made to develop a system 
of higher education under church control which should parallel 
their activities and make adequate provision for the education of 
the children of the Church. It soon became clear, however, that 
such a duplication of educational facilities was impracticable, and 
in many parts of the country the policy of co-operation replaced 
the earlier attitude of opposition and rivalry.^ It was recognized 
that the students in our state universities often came from Christian 
homes, and what was needed was to supplement the opportunities 
provided by the university by adequate facilities for religious 
instruction, very much as the Sunday school supplements the work 
of the public schools. 

* It is to be noted, however, that even in the strictly denominational col- 
leges the number in which the study of religion is required is diminishing. 
The tendency is to rely upon the quality of the instruction offered to attract 

students. 

^Of the 450,000 students in our colleges and universities, about half are 
in tax-supported institutions; of the remaining 225,000 somewhat less than 
half are in the private colleges and universities, leaving somewhat more than 
a quarter of the whole number in strictly denominational institutions. Exact 
figures are not at present available. 

" In the South, the attitude of the churches to the state institutions is still 
largely one of suspicion. The recent attempt in the Legislature of Kentucky 
to secure the prohibition of the teaching of evolution in tax-supported insti- 
tutions is only one of a number of indications of this attitude. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 311 

This was attempted in various ways. Voluntary Bible classes 
were provided under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian 
Association and the Young Women's Christian Association. The 
equipment of the local churches was strengthened. College pastors 
were called to look after the students of the several denominations; 
buildings were erected where the students of a particular denomi- 
nation could be cared for under helpful influences. Most recently 
the experiment has been tried of providing courses in the Bible and 
other religious subjects of such high character that the uni- 
versity has been willing to give those who take them academic 
credit.^ 

The proposal to establish interdenominational schools of re- 
ligion in connection with state universities suggests a development 
of great promise. A beginning has been made at the University of 
Missouri, where the Disciples Bible College has added a Presby- 
terian teacher to its staff and is planning to add representatives of 
other denominations. The University of Texas has an Association 
of Biblical Instructors in which different denominations are repre- 
sented. The Iowa State University is at work upon plans for an 
affiliated school of religion to be co-ordinated with courses of a 
religious nature at the university; and similar plans are under 
consideration at other universities. 

Of special interest as an example of co-operative work is the 
recently organized Council of College Pastors at Cornell. Six dif- 
ferent denominations are represented in this Council which has a 
single treasury. Each pastor is responsible for a definite part of 

'The Methodists and the Disciples have been specially active in this, 
the former through the Wesley Foundation, the latter through Bible Chairs, 
and in some instances Bible Schools maintained at university centres. Illinois, 
Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, and Kansas may be mentioned as examples of 
universities where such co-operation exists. Dr. Cope, Secretary of the 
Religious Education Association, has compiled a list of thirteen state univer- 
sities at which extra-mural credit is given for courses in religion and the 
Bible; namely, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michi- 
gan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Texas, and Wisconsin. On the 
subject of credit for religious subjects taken at other institutions cf. Christian 
Education, April, 1921, pp. 9 sq. 

Some state universities themselves offer courses in religious subjects. The 
University of Michigan is an interesting example. One of the curriculum 
courses in Biblical literature of this university had this year an enrolment of 
195 undergraduates. Courses in New Testament Greek and the Philosophy 
of Religion are offered by Iowa State University, which will form a part 
of the combined offering of the proposed school of religion. 



312 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the work; the Baptist takes charge of friendly relations, the Epis- 
copalian is responsible for the cultivation of the devotional life, the 
Congregational for extension work, the Lutheran for the missionary 
interest, the Methodist for vocational guidance, and the Presby- 
terian for voluntary Bible study. At Ohio State University a num- 
ber of denominations have united in the support of a single student 
pastor to represent united Protestantism, and the same is true of 
the Michigan Agricultural College. 

The original impulse to this activity came from the various 
denominational boards which were interested primarily in looking 
after the students of their own denominations. Since the establish- 
ing in 1911 of the Council of Church Boards of Education, how- 
ever, it has been possible to deal with the situation in a more thor- 
ough way. Under the auspices of this representative body a sys- 
tematic study of Christian education in our colleges and univer- 
sities has been undertaken and unified policies have been developed.^ 
A monthly journal serves as a clearing-house of opinion and fur- 
nishes an indispensable source of information.^ 

In addition to studying the state universities, the Council of 
Church Boards has devoted attention to the denominational col- 
leges. There are no less than four hundred and twenty of these, 
and they constitute an exceedingly important factor in our educa- 
tional life. Distributed all over the country, many of them in 
smaller communities where the cost of living is less than in great 
cities and which are easily accessible to the neighboring towns and 
country districts, they care for many thousands of students and 
form the largest single recruiting ground for the Christian ministry. 
In recent years much has been done to improve their quality and 
strengthen their resources, and they are to-day one of the most 
interesting fields for the study of what is possible in the way of 
higher instruction in religion. 

A different and in some respects more difficult problem is pre- 
sented by the colleges and universities in the eastern and middle 
states. These institutions are definitely Christian in character and 

* Among the special pieces of research done by the Council may be men- 
tioned a study of the Congregational colleges undertaken at the request of the 
Board of Education of that church. At present the Council is engaged m a 
study of the present status of theological education in the United States 
It is much to be desired that the resources at the disposal of the Council 
should be increased in order that it may be able to do more work of this kind. 

''Christian Education, 1916 sq. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 313 

make provision in various ways for the teaching of religion. They 
have daily chapel and university preaching on Sunday, at which in 
some cases attendance is compulsory. They offer courses on re- 
ligious subjects both for undergraduate and for graduate students. 
Some universities maintain theological faculties with a professional 
standing equal to that of their faculties of law and of medicine. 
A few make provision for a college pastor. In others the main 
reliance for the maintenance of the religious life of the students 
is placed upon the voluntary services of the Young Men's and 
Young Women's Christian Associations and the work of the neigh- 
boring churches. For the good work now being done we may be 
grateful. Yet it is timely to inquire whether taking them as a 
whole our eastern colleges and universities have yet faced in a 
comprehensive way their responsibility for meeting all the dif- 
ferent claims which may legitimately be made upon them. 

There are three groups of students whose needs must be con- 
sidered separately: first of all, the rank and file of students who 
are not themselves actively interested in religion but who should 
be given an intelligent conception of the place of religion in human 
life, of the function of the Church in modern society, and of the 
contents of the great classic of English literature, the Bible; sec- 
ondly, those students who are now or may become actively in- 
terested in religion and upon whom the Church is to draw for lay 
volunteer leadership; finally, the still smaller group who are to 
make the service of the Church their life work in the regular 
ministry or in some one of the various specialized forms of service. 
No university can properly be said to have done its duty as an 
educational institution that has not made definite and adequate 
provision for the needs of each of these three groups. 

There are two ways in which the university can make provision 
for the first of these needs. One is through special courses in the 
Bible, comparative religion and the philosophy of religion, given 
either as parts of the regular curriculum or as electives. The other 
is by making place for a treatment of religion in the general courses 
which deal with history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and the 
like. 

With the present pressure upon the curriculum and the delicate 
questions that grow out of denominational and theological dif- 
ferences, it is not probable that the amount of time given by the 
average undergraduate to special courses on religious subjects will 



314 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

materially increase. An occasional new course may be added, and 
the quality of the existing courses may be improved, but these 
courses will never of themselves accomplish all that is needed, if 
for no other reason than that they are taken by a limited number 
of students. To give the rank and file of students the desired 
familiarity with the facts about religion and the proper sense of 
their importance it will be necessary to interest those members of 
the faculty who teach other subjects. Much more is being done 
along this line than is commonly recognized. The history of the 
Church and the philosophy of religion are dealt with in general 
courses in history and philosophy. Great figures in the world of 
religion are discussed in the courses on literature. But such dis- 
cussions are usually due to the interest of the individual teacher 
and form no part of a comprehensive plan. If there could be in 
each institution some one person whose function it was to correlate 
what is now being done in the different classrooms and to suggest 
further points which could be wisely emphasized, a stronger im- 
pression would be produced than is possible under our present 
happy-go-lucky system.^ 

Much would depend on the personality of the teacher. The 
only sure way to make students realize the importance of religion 
as a subject of study is to let them see that teachers whom they 
respect regard it as important. Required instruction in religion 
given by men who do not appreciate the significance of religion 
is often worse than useless. But when the student hears his pro- 
fessor of history or of politics or of psychology calling attention to 
the part played by religion in human life, or explaining the function 
of the Church as a social institution, the effect is all the more 
impressive because the reference is imexpected.^ 

^It is of interest to know that in the introductory course on the Problems 
of Civilization required of all freshmen at Columbia, the subjects of religion 
and the Church receive due recognition as factors indispensable to the under- 
standing of the world in which we live. For a further account of what is 
being done along this line the reader is referred to the author's address deliv- 
ered before the Yale Convocation entitled, "The Responsibility of the Uni- 
versity for the Teaching of Religion," Yale Divinity Quarterly, June, 1920. 

^ This would seem to be a field which might be cultivated with profit in 
the state universities. Many of the teachers of these universities are Chris- 
tian men who would gladly co-operate in any plan to give the subject of 
religion the attention it deserves in those courses to which such a, study would 
l?e germane. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 315 

Here is an opportunity for the educational evangelism of which 
we were speaking. Much has been done to win college students to 
Christianity. Little has been done to enlist the co-operation of 
the members of the faculties. Yet in proportion to their numbers 
the faculty members probably exercise a greater influence than 
any other body of men in the country. Our universities and col- 
leges give the tone to our national life. From them come nine- 
tenths of the leaders in every walk of life. To them therefore the 
Church must look for leadership. 

Beside the students whose interest in religion is of a general 
character, there are two other groups to which the university has 
a special obligation: the thoughtful students who are to be the 
volunteer lay workers in our churches, and those who are going to 
make the service of the Church their life work. The needs of the 
first group can be met by special courses similar to those designed 
for the whole body of the students, but more thorough. Men 
expecting to enter the ministry should be treated like the students 
of other professional schools for whom the university provides 
courses designed to lay the foundation for their later and more 
technical studies. 

In this connection a word should be said of the opportunity 
offered by the summer school for developing an interest in religious 
research. Such schools are held every summer by our great univer- 
sities {e.g., Columbia, Chicago, and Harvard), and are attended by 
thousands of students. Among the subjects taught in these schools 
religion is included. At Columbia and the University of Chicago 
the courses given are somewhat technical in character and are 
designed primarily for theological students or for those intending 
to specialize in some form of religious education. At Harvard 
the courses are briefer and meant to meet the needs of ministers 
who cannot afford to give the time required for courses which count 
for a degree. It would be interesting to know whether there is a 
public which would be attracted by plans of a different character. 
A summer school of religion modelled after the Williams College 
School of Politics would be an interesting experiment and might 
set a standard for similar work in other places. In such a school 
special attention could be given to the responsibility of the Church 
for dealing with social and political problems, and teachers of 
national repute could present the results of the best Christian think- 



316 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

ing to men and women who were themselves at work in these 
fields.^ 

In addition to all that the university does to provide instruction 
for special groups of students, it must endeavor to create a general 
atmosphere of interest in the theoretical aspects of religion. The 
questions before the Church cannot be dealt with in a narrow or 
partisan spirit. They require consideration by thoughtful men of 
different departments under such conditions as exist in the graduate 
schools of our great universities. For this reason we welcome the 
action taken by some of our leading universities ^ in providing for 
the inclusion of religion among the subjects for which the degree 
of Ph.D. is given. This is an encouraging indication of a grow- 
ing recognition by the university of a responsibility for training 
thinkers as well as workers in the field of religion. 

How can a sympathetic attitude toward the study of religion 
on the part of our college and university teachers be further culti- 
vated and developed? There is just one certain way, and that is to 
make the Church such a significant factor in modern life that it 
will be impossible to ignore it. When our teachers see the churches 
doing the things that seem to them important within the fields 
which they are studying, they will begin to take note of this fact 
in their classrooms. Whatever we can do, therefore, to make the 
Church stronger and more effective will help to win a larger place 
for the teaching of religion in the curricula of our institutions of 
higher education. 

These considerations have a direct bearing upon recruiting for 
the ministry. Much may be done to win men for the cause by 
individual appeal and by group conferences, but the one argument 
that cannot be resisted is the presence in the ministry to-day of 
men who are doing work which is evidently worth while. Such 
men create their own successors, and without the reinforcement of 
such examples every other argument must fail. This introduces us 

*A word should be said of the summer conferences for students held at 
Geneva, Silver Bay, Blue Ridge, and other centres, under the auspices of the 
Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. These gatherings have done much to inter- 
est students in the study of religion and give them an intelligent appreciation 
of the missionary work of the Church. 

''E.g., Yale and the University of Chicago. Until recently Harvard also 
gave the degree of Ph.D. in religion, but this has now been superseded by the 
degree of Th.D., administered by the theological faculty. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 317 

naturally to the next subject to be considered, the present state of 
ministerial education. 



3. Recent Developments in Ministerial Education — Training for 

Other Forms of Specialized Service — The Church's 

Responsibility for Training Its Workers 

in the Field ^ 

Important as it is to increase the number of laymen trained to 
think independently about religion, we shall not accomplish what 
we desire unless we can effect corresponding changes in the char- 
acter and training of the ministry; for the Church is at heart, as 
we have seen, an institution of worship, and the man who leads in 
worship gives tone to the life of the whole. 

This fact the churches of America have fully appreciated. 
They have made generous provision for the training of their min- 
isters, at first in connection with the existing colleges, then in 
denominational seminaries provided for the purpose. These semi- 
naries, now about one hundred and fifty-three ^ in number, com- 
mand large resources in property and men and together constitute a 
factor of importance in moulding the religious life of America. It 
is instructive to inquire what influences are at work in them and 
what ideals control their policy. 

Like the denominations which have created them, the seminaries 
of the country differ widely. In a conservative body like the 
Lutheran, where doctrinal orthodoxy is strongly insisted on, the 
seminaries are under strict denominational control and the char- 
acter of the teaching conforms closely to the ofiicial standards of 
the church. In loosely organized bodies like the Congregational- 
ists and Baptists, greater freedom obtains, and the character of the 

'Cf. W. Adams Brown, 'Theological Education," printed in Monroe's 
Lyciopedm of Education, New York, 1914, Vol. V, pp. 582-606 

'These figures supplied by Dr. Kelly of the' Council of Church Boards 
ot ii^ducation, include only the Protestant seminaries. Of these 22 are exclu- 
sively for Negroes. In addition there are 32 Roman Catholic seminaries 2 
Hebrew seminaries, and 9 theological departments in colleges and umversities 
A careful list compiled by the librarian of the Union Theological Seminary 
puts the number of Protestant seminaries (both white and colored) at 167 
1 he denominational distribution is as follows: Baptist, 29; Congregational 12- 
L'dtrS ''' ,^^^h°d-^' 27; Presbyterian, 27; Protesknt' Episcopal, IsTothe; 
bodies, 29; undenominational, 8. The discrepancy in these figures is doiibtless 
to be accounted for by the use of different principles of classification. 



318 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

instruction given is determined by the judgment of the faculty and 
the prevailing opinion of that section of the church in which the 
graduates of the seminary are expected to work. In the Presby- 
terian, Episcopal, and Methodist churches the method of control 
varies. The theoretical right of the church to determine the char- 
acter of the teaching is generally recognized, but in practice the 
entire management of the school is committed to the trustees or 
governing boards of the several institutions. 

From the seminaries under denominational control must be dis- 
tinguished those theological schools which are entirely independent. 
These are of two kinds: the theological faculties of our great uni- 
versities like Harvard and Yale, which are university faculties in 
the strict sense and are governed by the corporation of the univer- 
sity, and independent schools like Union Theological Seminary in 
New York City, which may have university affiliation but which 
are governed by their own self-perpetuating boards of trustees. 
The tendency to secure freedom from ecclesiastical control which 
we have already noted in our study of colleges and universities 
reappears in the seminaries. Even where the connection with the 
denomination still remains, the number of seminaries which for all 
practical intents and purposes may be regarded as independent is 
increasing. 

In general the seminaries of the United States have faithfully 
reflected the qualities which have characterized the religious life 
of America. They have regarded it as their prime responsibility 
to train men for the ministry of their own denomination and have 
given relatively little attention to the affairs of other churches. If 
the tenets of other bodies have been taken into account, it has 
been to point out their errors and to contrast them with the purer 
and more adequate statements of the teacher's own denomination. 
The theology taught has been for the most part highly individual- 
istic and has presupposed a view of the world in which mature and 
the supernatural are sharply contrasted. The curriculum has been 
simple and has varied little in the different schools. It included a 
knowledge of the languages of the Bible, exegesis, church history, 
systematic theology and practical theology, which included homi- 
letics and pastoral theology. 

This conception of ministerial education is gradually changing 
as a result of a number of influences, some of which we have noted. 
Among these the most important are the general acceptance of the 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 319 

scientific method, the growing interest in questions of applied 
Christianity, and the weakening of the barriers between the denomi- 
nations. 

Of the first of these we have spoken elsewhere. The influence 
of the modern scientific movement upon education in general has 
been reflected in our seminaries and has affected both subject 
matter and method of teaching. Critical and historical questions 
occupy a larger space than before and the rival theories of spe- 
cialists fill much of the time previously given to mastering the 
contents of the Bible. The attitude taken toward the new science 
varies in the seminaries as in the denominations they represent, and 
the effects have been on the whole similar. In the more conserva- 
tive seminaries the critical study of the Bible is still looked upon 
with suspicion, and the conclusions of the more radical critics are 
uncompromisingly opposed. An increasing number both of teachers 
and of students, however, approach all religious questions with an 
open mind and find no difficulty in reconciling a whole-hearted 
Christian faith with the acceptance of the point of view which con- 
trols men's thinking in other spheres of human interest. 

A greater interest in applied Christianity is shown in many 
ways. More attention is given to the practical problems of the 
modern Church. Christian ethics, once taught as a part of sys- 
tematic theology, becomes a separate study in which the difficult 
question of applying Christianity to our contemporary economic 
and political life is discussed. Christian missions at home and 
abroad is made the subject of special instruction. The practical 
work done by the students in the different churches and philan- 
thropic institutions is supervised and the conception of the city 
as a laboratory for the study of religion in action is emphasized. 
The emphasis upon the practical application of the Gospel 
brmgs many students to the seminaries which are located in the 
larger centres of population where they can enjoy the advantages 
of the existing educational and philanthropic institutions. In New 
York there are three theological seminaries. In Chicago and its neigh- 
borhood, there are eight; in Boston, six. Some of these have close 
affiliations with Columbia, the University of Chicago, or Harvard. 
All recognize the advantage of the practical contacts afforded by the 
life of a great city. Institutions like the Union Settlement, South 
End House, and the Chicago Commons give the students an excep- 
tionally favorable opportunity to study human problems. They 



320 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

go out equipped with more practical experience than could other- 
wise have been acquired. There is, of course, a danger in the 
pressure of conflicting interests. Schools like the Protestant Epis- 
copal Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia, where quiet hours with the 
great thinkers of the past are still possible, will always maintain 
their place. For the present, however, the tendency of students to 
congregate in the great cities seems likely to continue. As long as 
this is true it is natural that students of theology should be there 

too. 

Among the impoiiant influences which are further affecting 
present methods of theological education is the spirit of Christian 
unity. Denominational barriers are more and more breaking down. 
Men may pass freely from the seminaries of one denomination to 
another. At Princeton, the leading representative of Presbyterian 
orthodoxy, twenty-three denominations are represented in the 
student body. At Union Theological Seminary in New York 
there are thirty-one. In most of the larger seminaries this 
state of things can be duplicated. What is more significant, we 
find seminaries in which the same catholicity appears in the con- 
stitution of the faculty. At Union six different communions are 
represented in the faculty; at Harvard, five; at Yale, four; at the 
University of Chicago, six. 

The broadening of the constituency of the seminary is reflected 
in its teaching, which becomes less rigidly denominational, more 
catholic and inclusive. The consciousness of the larger Church is 
beginning to invade even the most conservative of the seminaries, 
and this fact is rich in promise for the future of the American 

Church. 

It is interesting to note that the line between conservative and 
liberal, could one be drawn, would not correspond with denomina- 
tional divisions. Each large denomination has its more liberal 
and its more conservative schools, with the various shadings within 
each. In each case the sympathy that grows out of similar tem- 
perament and outlook cuts across denominational lines. The writer 
belongs to a theological society composed of teachers from a dozen 
of the leading theological schools of the different denominations- 
Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational. The 
subjects discussed are of the most fundamental and divisive char- 
acter and the differences in opinion of the participants are often 
great. Yet in method of approach, in unity of aim, in deep spiritual 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 321 

sympathy with one another, in the consciousness of belonging to a 
single unbroken fellowship the members of the society are at one. 
In this they are typical of a far larger number of teachers in all 
branches of the Church. 

Under these influences we see the curriculum broadening and 
becoming more flexible. New subjects are included, such as the 
history of religion, the psychology of religion, and sociology. Many 
modern seminaries have a department of religious education where 
instruction is given both in the theoretical and the practical aspects 
of the subject. Electives multiply until they run up into the hun- 
dreds. The student with a practical interest finds it possible to 
specialize, while higher degrees encourage the more thoughtful 
student to prolong his studies for one, two, or three more years. 
In two particulars this tendency to specialize is noteworthy. 
One is the attempt to adapt the studies carried on in the seminary 
to the work for which the student is preparing himself after gradu- 
ation. The differentiation of tasks of which our preliminary analy- 
sis has reminded us requires corresponding differences in training. 
This the seminaries are beginning to provide. In addition to the 
subjects which must be included in every minister's education, spe- 
cial preparation is needed by the minister of a country parish, by 
the man whose work is in the congested districts of our great 
cities, by the specialist in religious education, by the missionary 
who goes to the foreign field. These needs are met by special 
courses leading in some cases to vocational diplomas. 

^ The second form of specialization is in connection with scholar- 
ship and research. From the first the seminaries have recognized 
their obligation to contribute to the scientific study of religion, and 
the long and constantly increasing number of monographs in the 
various fields of religious knowledge have for the most part semi- 
nary professors for their authors. In the past these volumes have 
been written on the familiar subjects of the older curriculum, the 
criticism and interpretation of the Bible, church history, theology, 
and the like. More recently the practical problems before the 
Church have been studied and teachers of Christian ethics and its 
allied subject. Christian institutions, are contributing their share 
to the theological output. The psychology of religion and the 
theoretical aspects of religious education, as well as the history of 
religions, are receiving increasing attention. 

It is, of course, true that the extent of these changes differs in 



322 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

different institutions. Some seminaries have felt the new influencea 
little, some consciously repel them. None are entirely unaffected 

by them. 

A subject which concerns all seminaries alike is the number of 
men who are entering the ministry without a thorough prepara- 
tion. Statistics are not available to show how many ministers in 
the Protestant churches are without either college or seminary 
training, but we know that they are very many and that the num- 
ber appears to be increasing.^ What is more serious, we find that 
a campaign is being carried on against the seminaries which insist 
upon a high standard for their graduates. They are attacked as 
out of touch with the churches and congregations are urged to take 
men who have a more direct and vital Gospel. This campaign is 
closely connected with the revival of premillenarianism. A fertile 
field for this propaganda has been the Bible Institutes, which, origi- 
nally designed for the training of lay workers, are now sending 
many of their graduates into the ministry .^ Many of the teachers 
in these schools are committed to a literal interpretation of the 
Scripture which insists upon the visible, personal second coming of 
Christ. They suspect Christians who do not hold this view, how- 
ever conservative in other respects their theology may be. Those 
who accept the modern critical view of the Bible are regarded as 
enemies of the faith and an active propaganda is carried on against 

them. 

One salutary effect of this campaign has been to unite the 
friends of a thorough training for the ministry. The recent forma- 
tion of the Conference of Theological Seminaries of the United 
States and Canada was an encouraging evidence of such union. 
This conference, begun four years ago at Harvard at the invitation 
of President Lowell, brought together representatives of more than 
fifty seminaries. It was repeated two years ago at Princeton where 
thirty-five institutions were represented. It has now become a 
biennial affair. Teachers of different denominations, widely sepa- 
rated in theological and ecclesiastical position, meet for friendly 
discussion of their common problems. Provision has been made 
for a Continuation Committee which is to meet in the interim, and 

*Some of those who have studied the situation estimate that taking the 
country as a whole less than half the present ministry have had both a college 
and a seminary course, and a very large number of ministers have had neither. 

' This is notably true of the Institutes at Los Angeles and Chicago. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 323 

other committees are conducting investigations which will be to 
the mutual advantage of all concerned.^ 

The existence of this Conference, with its committees, opens the 
way for a serious consideration of some of the larger questions of 
ecclesiastical policy, of which one of the most important is what 
can be done to provide a ministry for those churches which cannot 
afford the highly trained graduates of the seminaries which require 
a college degree for entrance. At present the Bible Institutes are 
definitely trying to meet this need. It is for the educational 
authorities of the churches to decide whether they will provide 
briefer, although still thorough, courses of instruction for men 
without college training. 

There are two possible ways in which this could be done. Some 
of our existing seminaries could be equipped with facilities to do 
the work on a large scale; ^ or new institutions could be estab- 
lished with their own governing boards and faculties. The latter 
would only be possible on an adequate scale if a part of the funds 
now directed to the higher education of the ministry were diverted 
to this purpose and the gap filled by the consolidation of existing 
institutions. If our seminaries are to justify the large sums spent 
upon them, something of the sort should in any case be done. A 
study of the whole field is needed in order to ascertain where the 
major needs lie and what changes or additions are desirable. 

Such a study should also include a survey of the facilities avail- 
able for fitting men and women for other forms of specialized 
religious service.^ Many of those who are fitting themselves to 
teach religion now receive their training in our seminaries.* Secre- 
taries of the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciations are prepared for their work in special institutions created 

^E.g., on the subject of pre-seminary studies; on the opportunities for 
theological study for American students in the universities of Great Britain 
and the Continent, and on similar facilities offered to foreign students in the 
institutions of this country, etc. 

^Bangor and Hamilton are examples of seminaries which have definitely 
adopted the policy of training men for the mimstry who are not college 
graduates. 

^In the April number of Christian Education for 1921, 0. D. Foster gives 
a list of sixty-four such institutions with statistics of the number of students 
attending them. This study makes apparent the almost complete lack of 
standardization in this field. 

* Hartford maintains a separate School of Pedagogy, giving the degrees of 
Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Pedagogy, and Bachelor^ of Pedagogy. 



324 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

for the purpose.^ But there is a wide field in which little or noth- 
ing is being done except by voluntary agencies like the Bible Insti- 
tutes. Certain denominations provide training schools for lay 
workers where elementary instruction is given for a year or two 
years. The Episcopalians and Methodists have their deaconess' 
schools, but the work is of an elementary character and leads to 
no recognized degree. A promising experiment is the Social- 
Religious Workers' course for college graduates carried on jointly 
by the Methodists and Presbyterians in connection with Teachers 
College.2 A similar school is being conducted by the Methodists 
at Evanston. These are beginnings, all but negligible in compari- 
son with the greatness of the opportunity. A comprehensive sur- 
vey of the whole situation would lead to a closer co-ordination of 
our existing facilities, and might raise the question whether in 
addition to the existing schools for vocational training there is not 
room for some central institution, either independent or attached 
to an existing seminary or university, which could do for religious 
education what Teachers College does for secular education. Such 
a central institution might set a standard which would elevate the 
tone of religious teaching the country over. 

Scarcely less important than to guard the entrance into the 
ministry and to provide adequate training for lay workers, is it 
to see that those who have entered these callings without sufiicient 
education shall have an opportunity to supplement their deficiencies 
after they are in. It is to the credit of the Methodist Church that 
in theory at least it has grappled with this problem and made con- 
tinued study a requirement for the body of its working ministry. 
Its annual conferences bring together untrained or half-trained 
ministers, examine them on a course of reading prescribed for the 
year, and give them a course of lectures by older and more experi- 
enced teachers on themes of central importance, both theoretical 
and practical. It is true that the character of the work done in 

^E.g., The National Training School of the Young Women's Christian 
Association, New York; The Young Men's Christian Association College at 
Springfield,' Massachusetts; the Chicago and Lake Geneva Young Men's 
Christian Association College. 

' Those who take this course live in the different churches and settlements 
which they serve and devote half their time to neighborhood or parish work, 
sharing their experience with one another and using the city as a laboratory 
from which to draw the material which is interpreted to them in the class- 
room. 



FINDING AND TRAINING LEADERS 325 

these conferences differs greatly and is often superficial and unsat- 
isfactory. Nevertheless the principle has been established and all 
that is needed is to improve what has been begun. 

What is done for the Methodist ministry by means of con- 
ferences is being done by some of our home-missionary boards for 
their own workers. From time to time they bring together a 
selected number of w^orkers for a discussion of common problems. 
Such conferences not only provide needed information and instruc- 
tion for the individual, but also create an esprit de corps which is 
invaluable. Plans for more extended study are being considered 
by some of the boards, but have not yet been developed far enough 
for notice here. 

The furlough gives our foreign missionaries a convenient oppor- 
tunity for more prolonged study, and every year an increasing num- 
ber come to our seminaries and universities for serious graduate 
work. It is much to be regretted that the financial pressure upon 
the returned missionary and the demand for his services as a 
speaker prevent many who desire to do so from taking advantage 
of this opportunity. 

The intellectual refreshment which the mission boards provide 
for their workers through their group conferences ought to be avail- 
able for all the ministry. Something can be done by the seminaries 
through summer schools and conferences. Such conferences have 
been held at Harvard, Union, Auburn, Chicago, and elsewhere with 
gratifying success.^ Yale holds an annual convocation lasting a 
week, which is attended by many ministers, and the same is true 
of Bangor. In several denominations annual congresses have been 
held which have proved a fruitful source of instruction and stimu- 
lus, all the more because they have brought together for friendly 
conference men of very different theological and ecclesiastical posi- 
tions. But such occasional and unrelated meetings reach only a 
comparatively small number and leave untouched those who most 
need stimulus and guidance. To deal with the situation on an 
adequate scale it will be necessary for the educational authorities 
of the several denominations to co-operate with the colleges and 
seminaries in some nation-wide plan of extension work, making 

'A special word should be said of the work that has been done at Hampton 
Institute through the summer conference for Negro ministers. Howard Uni- 
versity IS also carrying on extension work in the same field. 



326 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

possible for the Church as a whole what the Methodist Church now 
offers its ministers. 

One educational agency of great promise has been almost 
entirely overlooked, and that is the stated meetings of the ecclesias- 
tical bodies themselves. Beside the national conventions and coun- 
cils which reach only a few and where the volume of work makes 
any large educational programme impossible, there are intermedi- 
ate bodies like the presbytery, the diocese, the classis, the district 
convention, which include all the clergy within a specified area. 
The meetings of these bodies are often taken up with details of a 
more or less unprofitable character and leading ministers are often 
conspicuous by their absence. If these units would constitute them- 
selves study groups for the consideration of the vital problems and 
would appoint committees to gather material during the year 
which could be presented for discussion when the body meets, they 
might in time do much to change the intellectual outlook of the 
ministry.^ 

The conception of the Church as an educational institution 
brings before us with renewed force our need of leadership. Impor- 
tant as it is for us to see that our ministers are encouraged to study, 
it is no less important that they should be furnished with the best 
possible helps to effective study; but for this there must be exten- 
sive co-operation. Not enough is being done to bring together our 
constructive thinkers; not enough to direct the young men, who are 
beginning their studies, to the fields which most need to be culti- 
vated; still less to interpret to those who are actively at work the 
lines along which the best contemporary thought is moving. There 
are many minds at work, but we have as yet no common mind. 
This introduces so important a subject that we must reserve it for 
another chapter. 

^ In the Presbyterian Church an interesting experiment is being tried. In 
some of the Western synods, notably Oregon and California, a week is given 
up to the meeting of synod and the religious condition of the state is made 
the subject of concerted study. Those who have attended meetings of synod 
under the new plan report the change in the spirit of the meetings as remark- 
able and the effect upon those who attend as far-reaching. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THINKING TOGETHER 

1. The Christian Way of Dealing with Difference — The Church 
as a Training School in Co-operative Thinking 

The preceding pages have made us familiar with what has thus 
far been done to bring about co-operation in the American churches. 
It is an encouraging story. In spite of much limitation and fail- 
ure, there has been a steady progress in understanding and sym- 
pathy. Barriers have been broken down. Contacts have been 
established, in the local community, in our educational and mis- 
sionary agencies, in the Church at large. What is needed now is to 
carry the process farther, to relate the groups that are still inde- 
pendent, to co-ordinate the agencies that now parallel or compete 
with one another, to provide adequate leadership for the Church 
as a whole. 

This is not simply a matter of setting up new machinery. It 
may be necessary to do this — we shall give reasons for thinking 
that it is — but of itself it will not accomplish what we want. What 
is needed is a new mental attitude. We must not only be willing 
to work with our fellow-Christians; we must be willing to think 
with them, which is a different and a more difficult matter. 

We may learn a lesson from the students of physical science. 
They have carried co-operation in research farther than any other 
group have done, and to this fact their extraordinary successes are 
largely due. No other field of study has been so well organized, 
and nowhere else have the results of research to date produced 
more revolutionary effects upon practice. 

But organization could not have produced such results without 
the spirit of co-operation. In all the great branches of research 
men are working side by side, sharing one another's insights, testing 
. one another's conclusions, rejoicing in one another's successes, mak- 
* ^ing each new discovery common property that it may form the 
point of departure for the next forward step, by whomever it may 
be made. Science is only another name for thinking together,. 

327 



328 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Why can we not do the same thing in the Church? In his 
recent book, ''The Mind in the Making," ^ Professor James Harvey 
Robinson suggests an answer. He contrasts the divisions and prej- 
udices which characterize our thinking about the human problems 
which bear most directly upon our daily welfare with the unity and 
precision with which students of the physical universe approach 
their problems. Why is it, he asks, that while in a comparatively 
short time our attitude toward nature has been revolutionized and 
we command powers of which our fathers never dreamed, we have 
made such slight progress in dealing with the infinitely more impor- 
tant problems of government and education? He concludes that 
the trouble is with our way of thinking. To our study of the 
physical universe we bring a perfectly open mind. In our attitude 
toward our fellow-men, on the other hand, tradition still holds 
sway. We assume that what is old must be good. It not only hurts 
us to change our minds; it seems to us immoral. What the scientist 
regards as the greatest virtue, the patriot and the preacher con- 
demn as the unforgivable sin. Professor Robinson insists that this 
attitude must be changed if we are to make progress toward a 
better society. We must rid ourselves of our prejudices in favor of 
the old and be ready, if necessary, to break completely with the 
beliefs of the past.^ 

There is enough truth in the contrast to provide food for self- 
examination. Yet of itself it does not tell the whole story. 

The divergence of which Professor Robinson reminds us is not 
simply due to a difference in the mental attitude of those who are 
studying; it grows in part out of the nature of the subject to be 
studied. The physical sciences deal with objects which can be 
touched and measured, and the problems which they propose for 

'New York, 1921. . 

'Cf. especially p. 25. "In order that these discoveries (of physical science) 
should be made and ingeniously applied to the conveniences of life, it was 
necessary to discard practically all the consecrated notions of the world and its 
workings which had been held by the best and wisest and purest of man- 
kind do-;vn to three hundred years ago— indeed, until much more recently. 
Intelligence, in a creature of routine like man and in a universe so ill under- 
stood as ours, must often break valiantly with the past in order to get ahead. 
It would be pleasant to assume that all we had to do was to build on well- 
designed foundations, firmly laid by the wisdom of the ages. But those who 
have studied the history of natural science would agree that Bacon, Galileo, 
and Descartes found no such foundation, but had to begin their construction 
from the ground up." 



THINKING TOGETHER 329 

solution lend themselves to laboratory experiment. In social mat- 
ters, on the other hand, we are dealing with human beings who have 
wills of their own and who must consent to what is proposed to 
them. If the chemist or physicist makes a mistake in his calcula- 
tions and finds it necessary to correct his hypothesis, no great harm 
is done. In spite of this, prejudice is not unknown, and the spirit 
of co-operation has to make its way against obstacles. In our 
study of man's social relationships these obstacles are immeasur- 
ably greater. This is a field in which personal interests are affected. 
A miscalculation may bring sorrow and misery to multitudes. It 
is not strange that men's minds should move more slowly here 
and that prejudice should be harder to overcome. 

We may illustrate this in connection with our social and indus- 
trial problems. Much of the resistance to progress in our day is 
due to personal selfishness, the resolute determination to hold what 
one has at any cost. But much of it is due to honest doubt as to 
whether the changes proposed will really be for the better. With 
this doubt, reinforcing and dignifying it, goes the sense of respon- 
sibility for the human values which may be imperilled if any mis- 
take be made, values cherished not for ourselves alone, but for 
other lives as well. This fear of change has its evil consequences 
against which we must always be on our guard, but it has often 
proved a useful balance-wheel. It has held society steady when 
some untried theory has been proposed as a new Gospel of sal- 
vation, and it has forced the advocates of change to justify their 
claim by winning the consent of those who must pay the price of 
the experiment. 

In religion we face the ultimate realities and define our relation 
to the supreme values. We can afford, least of all, to make mis- 
takes here. Here, therefore, we find ourselves most hesitant to 
venture into unknown fields. In religion the problem of difference 
becomes most acute, and the obstacles in the way of unity seem 
most difficult to overcome. To the natural preference of each for 
his own way, to the ever present obstacles of inertia and prejudice 
are added nobler motives, the sense of fellowship with martyrs 
and saints in the past, the consciousness of responsibility for hand- 
ing down to the future the truth and grace entrusted to us by God. 
But if religion accentuates our difficulties it helps us to deal 
with them. Religion lives by faith, and faith furnishes the atmos- 
phere in which differences may be most helpfully approached. The 



330 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

triumphs of science have been possible because those who have 
studied science have believed that success was attainable. No num- 
ber of past failures has been able to shake the student's faith that 
the next experiment might succeed. The spirit in which our human 
problems have been approached has too often been the very oppo- 
site. We have been content with half measures and compromises 
because it was too hard to believe that anything better was possible. 
We have made the past the measure of the future and met each 
proposal for a forward step in church or state with the sweeping 
assertion that it is impossible to change human nature. Because 
man has sinned and blundered in the past therefore he must always 
continue to blunder and sin. Because he has lacked faith in the 
past, therefore he must always continue faithless. That which 
blocks progress at every point is fear born of unbelief. No diag- 
nosis of our present social ills is complete which does not recognize 
man's distrust of his fellow-man. Why will not capital do the 
obvious thing for labor? Because capital does not trust labor. 
Why does labor pursue its short-sighted and selfish policy? Be- 
cause labor fears that if it do otherwise capital will take some 
advantage. Why does not France disarm? Because France fears 
what Germany will do, and so with all the other nations. From 
this impasse we can escape only by the way of faith. If we are to 
go forward it can only be as we are willing to help one another to 
live the better life. For this we must trust one another and wish 
one another well. Religion makes possible this mutual sympathy 
and goodwill. It shows us the unrealized capacities of our fellows 
and interests us in their progress and welfare. 

Of all men, therefore, religious people ought to be most willing 
to open their minds to new light and to approach life's tasks and 
problems together. The habit of thinking together, to be sure, 
will not of itself put an end to difference. Indeed it may well 
accentuate it. But it will give difference a new significance. It 
will put it in the right place. Men are often divided by unreal 
differences. They hold aloof from those with whom they are really 
in sympathy and try to work with those who, at heart, care little 
for what they value most. Contact will dispel these misunder- 
standings. It will bring those together who belong together. It 
will join conflict on real issues. 

Not only will the right attitude help to limit the number of our 
differences to those which have real significance; it will show us 



THINKING TOGETHER 331 

how to deal with those which remain. Perceiving the causes which 
have produced our differences we shall be able to treat them more 
intelligently. We shall understand even where we cannot approve. 
We shall sympathize even where we cannot agree. Where a plain 
moral issue of right and wrong is presented, we shall meet it with 
the courage that is born of a knowledge of the facts. 

Thinking' together, we must never forget, does not necessarily 
mean thinking alike. One of the most valuable lessons a man can 
learn is how to differ without loss of respect. For the Church this 
lesson is of fundamental importance; for it is the indispensable 
condition of any real progress toward a united Church. The first 
step toward Christian unity must be taken within, and this involves 
the facing of differences in the fraternal spirit. Whatever may be 
the outcome I will at least try to make my brother's point of view 
my own. I will see with his eyes and think with his mind and feel 
with his heart and I will dare to believe that what I am willing 
to do for him he will be willing to do for me. Where this attitude 
prevails unity may not at once be possible, but diversity will be 
robbed of danger. 

This applies to the theological differences which separate 
Christians. They are not unimportant .or negligible. We deceive 
ourselves if we pretend they are. They have deep roots in human 
nature and testify to realities which cannot be ignored. Whether 
God reveals Himself gradually and through natural means, as the 
new theology maintains, or instantly by miraculous means, as is 
believed by advocates of the older view, is not a scholastic ques- 
tion. Practical issues of large significance hang on the decision. 
But of one thing we may be sure, that if we are to make progress 
in the right direction it will be by trying with all our might to 
understand what can be said for the position we do not hold. It 
may be that neither of us has grasped the full truth. It may be 
that some new synthesis can be found that will make place for the 
truth of both. In the meantime let us rejoice in that which we hold 
in common— our mutual faith in the good God whom Christ reveals. 

Our differences as to the nature of the Church, too, are far from 
negligible and we should be foolish to minimize them. It is not 
easy to over-estimate the contrast between the independent who 
distrusts all organization and finds his ultimate social unit in the 
free spirit which responds individually to the Spirit of God, and 
the high churchman to whom the institution as such is God's organ 



332 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

of revelation and the sacrament is the very heart of religion. But 
these differences, also, can be approached in an attitude of faith 
and goodwill. We must pay to the man from whom we differ the 
respect that we ask for ourselves. We must believe that God may 
speak to him as truly as He speaks to us, even if in language 
strange to our ears. We must learn to understand what worship 
means to him and to feel toward it as he feels. We may find to 
our surprise that he has discovered something precious that we 
have overlooked. This much is certain; if we are to share with 
him the insights we have received from God, it can only be through 
some point of contact won in this way. 

The opportunity for such contact the Church should provide. It 
should be a school for co-operative thinking in which mind meets 
mind in a common quest of truth. 

2. What It Means to Think Together — Fields in Which 
Co-operative Thinking Is Needed in the Church 

What, then, are the conditions of successful co-operative think- 
ing? They are many, but two are indispensable — time and con- 
tact. Under the conditions of our American life they seem almost 
impossible to secure. 

Fruitful thought requires concentration. The mind must be 
free from the pressure of conflicting interests, and to attain this a 
busy man requires more than ordinary resolution. We must re- 
alize that to make room for thinking is so important that it is 
worth a sacrifice. A distinguished Frenchman was asked to give 
his impression of our American universities. ''You Americans," he 
said, "respect scholarship; but you do not respect the conditions of 
scholarship." We like the results of thought, but we are too busy 
doing things to pay the price of thought. 

This preoccupation with doing strikes an observer from the 
older world as one of the characteristic features of American life. 
Speed seems to us the thing supremely important. We are always 
hurrying, and if anyone can tell us how we can go faster still, we 
are eager to follow him. Quantity rather than quality of output 
is the aim of our manufactories. Too often it seems our ideal in 
the Church. 

We have said that we are too busy to think. This is not quite 
true. We are not too busy to think about methods — at least within 



THINKING TOGETHER 333 

certain limits. If anyone can invent a labor-saving machine we 
are eager to hear about it, and will scrap any amount of old ma- 
chinery to install it. But the question whether the thing we are 
doing is really worth while; whether the product we manufacture 
serves a useful end; whether it would not be better in the long run 
if we directed our energy to some altogether different occupation: 
for such questions as these, we have little time. Indeed, there are 
many of us who seem scarcely to suspect that these questions 
exist. 

This lack of proper forethought explains the incredible waste of 
American life. We see it in the relation of capital and labor. 
Labor turnover is one of the biggest items in the modern employer's 
balance-sheet. Industrial unrest with its resulting unemployment 
and stagnation of industry is responsible for 'vast sums every year. 
Yet only recently have employers begun to realize that there are 
human factors to be taken into account which need to be studied 
with as much care and attention as the scientists study the laws 
of motion. Fewer still have time for the bigger questions which 
concern the industry as a whole — time to ask themselves what is the 
use of their business to society, what its relation to other industries 
as part of the complex social machine that serves the nation and 
mankind. 

More tragic than the waste of economic resources is the waste 
of those priceless treasures — faith and goodwill. There are infinite 
stores of these in human nature. They reappear in every new gen- 
eration of children. The disposition to think well of life and to 
hope for* the best — how hard it dies in these prospective citizens and 
Christians. How quickly it responds to friendly treatment. How 
easy it would be to translate it into social service, if our existing 
institutions were not built upon a different philosophy and did not 
ruthlessly contradict the idealism which the child is taught in 
school. 

A well-known I. W. W. agitator thus explained the method of 
his propaganda. He would gather a number of men in some logging 
camp in Washington or Oregon and talk of the common things they 
saw about them every day. "You meet a lame dog," he would 
say, ''and are sorry for him. You see a man abusing a valuable 
horse and it makes you angry. Yet you pass a suffering woman or 
a crying child and it never occurs to you to do anything to help. 
You take such things for granted as part of the order of things. 



334 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

How do you account for this? How has it come about that the 
pity which we instinctively feel for suffering animals is so often 
absent where human suffering is concerned? It is because of our 
unnatural social ^order. We .have been trained to be indifferent to 
our fellow-men and this training has inhibited our natural impulses 
of kindliness and friendliness." This method of approach, he 
declared, had never failed to win him the sympathy of his auditors. 

There is a clue here which is worth following by others. There 
are stores of faith and goodwill in the average man which are 
available for our use; but we are too busy running the machine 
in the way it has always been run to ask ourselves whether 
there is not a better way. Only recently have people begun to 
wake up to the folly of this procedure and to ask themselves 
seriously whether there is not some way of testing modern methods 
in business and politics by Christian standards. 

One of the most interesting signs of the times is the awakening 
of modem business men to the losses they have sustained because 
they have made no proper provision for systematic study. Many 
of them are reorganizing their personnel so as to leave some of the 
staff free for travel and research. They are turning to the colleges 
for help where expert advice is needed. They are doing this not 
simply in technical matters of finance and invention, but in con- 
nection with that more subtle and difficult factor in industry, the 
men and women who work. Recently a large employer com- 
missioned two college professors to give a year of study to the 
methods of labor adjustment used in certain large plants in which 
he was interested. This is typical of the new spirit in industry; 
the spirit that seeks to realize problems as a whole, and is ready 
to take the time which is necessary. 

How much more essential is such study in an enterprise as com- 
plex as the Christian Church! For here We are dealing with man 
not simply as a factor in industry but in all the complicated rela- 
tionships that make up his life in society. We are trying to form 
standards for judging our conduct and the methods proposed to 
improve it. This is not work for any single individual, or number 
of isolated individuals. It must be done by all of us working 
together. 

With time must go contact. We must not only take time to 
think ourselves; we must take time to know what other people are 
thinking. We have been recently reminded of the significance of 



THINKING TOGETHER 335 

the group for the formation of opinion.^ Discussion carried on with 
an open mind reveals unsuspected possibilities. A result reached 
through conference is different and usually much better than a 
result reached through the same amount of effort on the part of 
individual members of a group working separately. Such progress 
as we have already made in practical co-operation has been made 
possible by group thinking. But we should have more of it, and 
for this we need to multiply our opportunities of contact 

Such group thinking, to be sure, will not render individual 
initiative any less necessary, but it will furnish the impulse which 
sets the gifted individual thinking. "Imagination," it has been said 
IS not a group quality," but the contact of mind with mind which 
the group makes possible starts processes of thought which mav 
ripen m lonely hours when the other members of the group are 
far away. ^ f <"<=• 

One sometimes wonders what test Jesus would use to-day if He 
were to enter our modern world with His words, "Follow me " 
In speaking to our young men what would He substitute for "Go 
sell all that thou hast?" We do not know. But one thing we 
are sure He would say: "Be willing to talk to your neighbor. 
Remember that he ,s a fellow-man with personal interests at stake 
m the issue between you. Recognize those interests in your attitude 

lZ''wT\ r', IT '•'"^^ "^"'''^* ^'"^ '^^^^ ^hat he has to 
.ay What incalculable harm would have been saved the world 

If this principle had been acted upon. How many wars, industrial 
as well as international, might have been avoided, if considerations 
of prestige had not prevented the principals from meeting face to 
face while there was yet time. 

Our business men are recognizing that a change is needed. Some 
are begmnmg to abandon the autocratic methods which have hith- 
erto prevailed in their industries and to provide for group discus- 
sion between management and workmen. They are taking their 

S will T T "f ''"" '''' '''"^^ '° ^-^^^ ^ ^--p -°- e 

li . A i^'"" ^^°'' ^^° ^°'^ ^ «e"«e °f partnership in the enter- 
prise. A large concern engaged in international banking recentlv 

forTwerr'% ""*'* *° ^'^ ^°'^ ^" ''' ^°''^^ representatives 

possible misunderstanding and securing unity of spirit in the con- 

Gove™me°"!"k;?k'Jrim" ^""'' Organisation the Solution of Popular 



336 THE CHURCH. IN AMERICA 

duct of the business as a whole. The same motive underlies the 
movement for the democratic control of industry, whether in its 
more conservative form of shop councils or the more radical plans 
which involve profit sharing or some other method of the employees' 
participation in management. 

A similar movement is apparent in international affairs. We are 
coming to see that there are only two ways of settling differences 
between nations, war or conference, and the best brains of all the 
different peoples are now engaged in finding some way in which the 
second method may become a part of our accepted international 
procedure. 

In the Church, too, we need to multiply our opportunities of 
group contact. We need such contact between the leaders to secure 
agreement in policy. We need contact all along the line to make 
sure that the results reached by the leaders are understood and 
approved by those whom they represent. 

It may be said that in our higher institutions of learning the 
Church is already provided with all the needed facilities for co- 
operative thinking. Our universities and theological seminaries 
ought to be the places where group thinking about social and reli- 
gious questions is carried on most effectively, to which, therefore, 
we should look for guidance in the solution of difficult church prob- 
lems. They are in fact doing much to help us, for which we are 
thankful. But even our universities have not wholly resisted the 
American tendency to measure results by quantity rather than 
quality. They have yielded to the prevailing cult of the specialist, 
dividing department from department, and making each supreme 
in its own sphere. In the physical sciences, to be sure, a large share 
of co-operation has been realized, but the social and political sci- 
ences are still for the most part unorganized. We know much about 
many things, but to inquire what these many things mean and how 
they are related seems to be no one's business. Philosophy, in the 
old sense of the quest of wisdom, has been dethroned by science and 
the correlation of knowledge is left to be dealt with by amateurs.^ 

Even if the thinking of our universities and seminaries were 
better organized, it would still remain true that it is not properly 
interpreted. We have not yet devised the way in which the results 
of the best thinking in the humanities can be made practically avail- 

^ Cf . W. Adams Brown, "The Future of Philosophy as a University Study," 
The Journal oj Philosophy, Vol. XVIII, December 8, 1921. 



THINKING TOGETHER 337 

able like the results of research in chemistry and physics. The 
ordinary man grows up in ignorance of many of the things he most 
needs to know, and there is no one to whom he can turn to supply 
his lack. He knows a little about many things, and a great deal 
about some one thing. But he has no comprehensive view of life 
as a whole, and there seems no one who can give it to him. The 
specialist cannot give it to him because he is a specialist. The ele- 
mentary teacher cannot give it to him because he does not know 
enough. There would seem to be need of a new profession, that of 
intellectual correlator, or liaison officer in the realm of the mind— 
the man who assembles the results of the specialist's work on the 
subjects of living human interest in such form that they can serve 
as the basis for general education.^ 

In religion most of all we need some one to bridge the gap 
between the specialist, whose interest lies on the border-land of our 
knowledge, and the uninformed teacher, to whom most of us must 
look for instruction. We need to increase the number of those 
who can teach teachers, who can popularize the results of research. 
Such correlation of knowledge is needed not simply for infor- 
mation and general culture ; it is needed still more for effective ac- 
tion. In a particular business it may be possible to overlook this 
necessity for a time, because the interests involved are special. But 
those who are concerned with personal relationships, as is the case 
with workers in state or church, cannot shut their eyes to the larger 
whole of which they are a part. Unless each of the smaller units 
is rightly related to all the others, they cannot succeed. They have 
a vital interest, therefore, in bringing about such mutual under- 
standing between the different persons who must co-operate that 
the net outcome of their effort will be for the common good. 

This need of entering into others' thought may be illustrated in 
each of the different fields which we have been studying. It may be 

a^a'^^^?" ^- ^^^^^' ''History for Everybody," Yale Review, July, 1921, p. 
b7b: Ihe modern community has yet to develop a type of teacher with 
the freedom and leisure to make a thorough and continuous study of con- 
temporary histoncal and other scientific knowledge in order to use these 
accumulations to the best effect in general education." Such a task Mr 
Wells has attempted in his '^Outline of History," and whether he has suc- 
ceeded or not no one can deny that he has tried to do a thing which needs 
to be done. On the difficulty of gaining accurate knowledge on contemporary 
affairs and the resulting danger to society, cf. Walter Lippmann, ''I'ublic 
Opimon," New York, 1922. . 



338 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

illustrated in the local community. The difficulty with so many 
congregations that are living at a poor dying rate is that their mem- 
bers have never been able to form the habit of thinking of anything 
but themselves. They do what they are doing because it is the 
thing they have always been in the habit of doing. It does not seem 
strange to them that there should be a Presbyterian, a Methodist, 
and a Baptist Church standing side by side in a community which 
has only people enough to support one vigorous church, because so 
far as they can remember there always have been three churches 
there. It is not that their wills are perverse but that their minds are 
limited. They need to rub up against their neighbors. They re- 
quire to be converted to the community spirit. When once they 
have formed the habit of thinking together, nine-tenths of their 
difficulties will disappear and they will be surprised to find how 
much better off everybody is imder a co-operative than under a 
competitive system. 

What is true of the local congregation is true of the Church as a 
whole. Its members need to learn what their fellow-Christians are 
thinking. In important phases of the Church's life this lesson is 
rapidly being learned. It is being learned in the field of missions. 
In the work that Methodists or Presbyterians are doing for India 
or China, they are conscious of a corporate responsibility which 
lifts them above their provincialism and makes them in a true sense 
citizens of the world. The same is true in increasing degree of the 
men and women at work in the home field; but their influence 
reaches only a part of the church membership. In all our denomi- 
nations there are multitudes who are still living without the larger 
vision. They need to be shaken out of their self-sufficiency and 
made to realize the larger whole of which they are a part. The 
corporate consciousness which so largely dominates our missionary 
activity must become part and parcel of the life of the Church as 
a whole. 

Most of all, understanding is needed among leaders. They are 
dealing with great interests and they need all the help they can 
get. This help can come only through co-operation as they pool 
their resources of insight and knowledge and make provision for a 
collective attack upon the problems that remain. 

But for this organization is necessary. What, if anything, can 
be done here? 



THINKING TOGETHER 339 

3. Wanted: an Organ for Collective Thinking for the 

Church as a Whole 

In a recent number of the New Republic, Walter Lippmann 
reviews a book by a Frenchman named Pierrefeu on the French 
high command. He points out that the significance of the book 
lies in the fact that it shows the extraordinary part theory played 
in the conduct of the war. ''One conclusion," he writes, "is fairly 
plain. It took nearly three years for the French General Staff to 
understand the character of the war it was fighting. . . . We are 
almost justified in saying that the long deadlock in the West was 
in the last analysis a time in which both commands were vainly 
trying to conceive the war. The soldiers held while the generals 
thought; the soldiers wasted themselves in fruitless attack while 
the staffs painfully searched for the right method of attack." ^ 

It is a picture of what is going on in the Church. The soldiers 
of Jesus Christ, the privates in their several parishes scattered all 
over the land, are wasting themselves in fruitless attacks because 
their leaders have not yet found the right method of attack. One 
reason why they have not found it is because they are not looking 
for it together. The Church needs a unified leadership such as is 
furnished to the army by the general staff. 

What is the general staff? It is a committee for continuous 
collective thinking. The staff is a group of men taken from the line 
or, in other words, the men actively at work in the various depart- 
ments of the army — infantry, artillery, cavalry, and engineers — to 
think for the whole. They are to the army what the brain is to the 
individual, the centre from which the whole nervous system radiates, 
the co-ordinating machinery. Their business is to see things in 
relation and perspective, to test what is being done, not only by the 
technical standards which prevail in this or that particular branch 
of the service, but by its usefulness for all. They look forward and 
back, studying the history of past wars, forecasting the possibility 
of future wars, planning what can be done with the resources avail- 
able to increase the strength of the army either for offence or de- 
fense. They draw their recruits from men of practical experience, 
taking them from all arms of the service alike. They send them 

^Cf. New Republic, January 19, 1921. 



340 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

back from time to time to refresh themselves with new experience. 
Individuals may change. The group remains, thinking for the 
whole, studying the things that need to be studied, sharing with the 
men who must execute the wider knowledge that is necessary to 
make action in any particular field a success. 

Without such a staff the army could not function as a whole. Its 
success depends in the last analysis not upon the number of men it 
contains nor the amount of munitions at its disposal, nor even the 
resources in men and money which it can command, but on its 
ability to use these at the time and place where they are needed. 
No preconceived idea of what each arm of the service is fitted to do, 
or the proper method of using cavalry or artillery as they have been 
used in the past, must divert the commander from his main objec- 
tive, which is to defeat the enemy. Marshal Foch, in his book on 
the "Principles of War," ^ has expressed this truth in the formula 
of the economy of forces — ^the formula which shows how each part, 
by timely combination with the others, may be made to multiply its 
own effectiveness many fold. 

What is true of the battles of war, technically so-called, is 
equally true of the spiritual struggle which is going on all the time. 
That side will win which is able to concentrate its forces most com- 
pletely at the point where the contest is most severe. In his sug- 
gestive book, ''Democracy after the War," ^ Professor Hobson points 
out how the vast spiritual energies which are going into the struggle 
for a better world are neutralized and thwarted by the fact that 
these energies are divided. Each group is working at its pet interest 
as if it were the whole, and because there is no unified leadership 
positions of fundamental strategic importance are lost for lack of 
the help which others might easily have given. If we would work 
together effectively we must first learn to think together. 

An impressive plea for such united leadership in the Church has 
been made by Earl Haig.^ 

"I have seen in my own sphere of activity the working of a 
General Staff. I understand how, without interfering with the dis- 
cretion of those on the spot in matters that concern them and them 

* New York, 1918, pp. 48 sq. 

'London, 1918. Cf. esp. pp. 145-161. 

^Cf. extracts from hia address to Scottish churches given in Professor 
Curtis' suggestive article in the Hibbert Journal on "A League of Churches," 
January, 1921. 



THINKING TOGETHER 341 

only, it is yet able to give singleness of purpose to diversified 
operations in many theatres, ... yet more particularly, how it is 
able to instil life, energy, resolution, and drive into the actions of 
all, inspiring all with the feeling that they are working to a common 
end, that their efforts are interdependent, their failure involving 
more than their own ruin, and their success guaranteeing the victory 
of others. I want to see established a General Staff for the Chris- 
tian churches of the Empire, some body at least analogous in the 
ecclesiastical sphere to the position held by the Imperial General 
Staff in the military organization of the Empire. There need be no 
interference in the internal economy of the churches, whether on 
their spiritual or their temporal side. What it seems to me is 
needed at once is a strong representative body, not too large for 
energetic action, which can direct the general policy of the churches, 
infuse them with new energy, and strengthen their resolution in the 
great crusade of brotherhood, on the long road on which the war 
has set our feet. This central body must proceed to the further 
development of an organization suited to the needs of the Empire. 
We are entering, w^e hope, upon an era of peace, bought by vast 
sacrifices. The object of every one of us is to make that peace 
secure and permanent. To my mind, the one means by which that 
end can be achieved is to develop — not merely in Scotland and 
England, but throughout the whole of the British Empire and the 
whole world — the spirit of brotherhood born of war. For that great 
work we need the active help of a strong, vigorous, national Church 
— a Church which has risen superior to the forces of disruption, and 
is itself a living embodiment of the principles of fellowship and 
unity." ^ 

But the example of the army can be followed only in part by 
the Church. The staff is not only an organization for collective 
thinking; it is also the official adviser of the responsible executive 
head of the army. Such concentration of power is not possible in 
the Protestant Church. Rome can command the kind of leadership 
found in the army because it has embodied in its constitution the 
principle of external authority. Our Protestant ideal is different. 
The only leadership possible for us is group leadership. We must 
assemble our leaders from different branches of the Church, and 
they must rely for their influence on the full assent of those to whom 
their counsel comes. 

But this is all the more reason why we need to assemble them. 

^The proposal of Earl Haig for a central council to direct the thinking 
of the Church in its international relations is paralleled by the plea of Pro- 
fessor Small elsewhere referred to for a central body to advise the Church in 
industrial and economic matters. Of. p. 232. 



342 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

There are groups thinking to-day in many different places, but their 
thought is partial and unrelated. We need to unify these groups 
and to relate them one to another so that those who are now work- 
ing independently may work together and the Church as a whole 
may make its impact felt upon the world as a whole. 

It may be objected that we have too much organization as it is. 
Committee succeeds committee in interminable succession. It is 
so in the denomination; it is so in the interdenominational field. 
Most of all it is true in the field of religious education. Of inter- 
denominational organizations alone we have no less than fourteen 
which have to do with religious education. It would seem as though 
our trouble were too much organization rather than too little. 

Whether we have too many organizations the present writer is 
not prepared to say, but it seems clear that those which we now 
have are not functioning as effectively as they might. We are not 
getting in results a product commensurate with our output. The 
men who are running the different parts of the machine are too busy 
doing so to take time to find out how the whole can be run better. 
If this be true the remedy is plain. We must find men who are 
willing to give the time and we must put them in the place where 
they can work together effectively. 

There are two ways to set about the creation of such a central 
correlating agency. It may be brought about through the voluntary 
action of individuals or it may be made an integral part of some 
one of the existing interdenominational agencies. 

We have already spoken of the Conference of Theological 
Seminaries as an organization which brings together many of the 
men who are actively carrying on research in the various problems 
concerning the Church's life and work, and pointed out the need of 
taking steps to correlate their work so that it may bear more 
directly upon the needs and tasks of present-day Christianity. 
This is but one of many groups which are doing similar work and 
present a similar opportunity. Most of the different educational 
agencies of which we have spoken are doing research work, some 
of it of a high order. Our boards of home and foreign missions are 
doing it, as well as the interdenominational agencies through which 
they function. The same is true of the Christian Associations. 
From the men and women engaged in these various enterprises a 
voluntary organization might be formed to study the tasks of the 
Church as a whole and to give their conclusions wide publicity. 



THINKING TOGETHER 343 

Such a method of procedure would have much to commend it. 
It would have the advantage of securing the utmost freedom and 
impartiality on the part of those who took part in it; but it would 
have the disadvantage of all voluntary organizations. It would 
have no official standing in quarters where its influence was most 
needed. It would be difficult to secure for it the services of many 
of those whose contribution was most desirable. If inadequately 
financed, it would be hampered in its work. If privately financed 
on an adequate scale, like the great foundations in the field of edu- 
' cation and medicine, it would lack the close touch with the organi- 
zations to be influenced, which would be the case if it drew its 
resources as well as its personnel from them. 

For every reason, therefore, it would seem desirable to attach 
the committee to some existing organization. Such a point of con- 
tact might be found either in the Federal Council ^ or in the pro- 
posed Council of Christian Education.^ The determination of this 
question is less important than the definition of the function of the 
committee and its right relation to the existing agencies of collec- 
tive thinking in the Church. 

Essential to the success of such a committee would be the pro- 
vision that it should have no executive responsibility. It should 
be purely a body for study and advice. Apart from the fact that 
the churches would be unwilling to surrender to any such central 
body the powers which they have hitherto exercised, it would intro- 
duce a disturbing element into the committee's work. Its members 
would become so much interested in the things that needed to be 
done immediately that their attention would be diverted from the 
wider outlook. They would no longer be a strictly impartial body 
whose duty it was to report on the facts as they found them, but 
the executives of a policy which other parties in the Church would 
feel they must oppose. 

Yet though the work of the committee should be purely advisory, 
it should none the less be concerned with matters of present and 
vital interest. It should study the questions proposed to it as they 
meet us in the existing world situation and bear upon the tasks of 

* The Social Service Commission is not the only commission of the Federal 
Council which is conducting research. Each of the commissions is studying 
its own field in its own way, but the work they are doing has not yet been 
effectively correlated. Moreover, each can spare but a part of its time from 
other duties. 

*Cf. p. 242. 



344 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

the present Church. The conclusions reached should be verified by 
all available experience and put in the form of suggestions which 
could be further tested in practice.^ 

The definition of its task would determine the personnel of the 
committee. It should include not only oflScial representatives of 
the churches, but men and women who are now doing constructive 
thinking about religion in every sphere of life ; professors should be 
on it, and men of business, labor leaders and scientists, as well as 
ministers and church ofiicials — whoever has knowledge of the mat- 
ters that the leaders of the Church need to know or judgment which 
will help them in making right decisions. Not all these persons 
need to serve continuously, though they should be available for serv- 
ice when needed. But there should be a permanent executive com- 
mittee to give continuity to their work, and map out the special 
tasks to which they are to be assigned. 

This central committee should be in touch with similar com- 
mittees operating on a smaller scale and dealing with more de- 
tached problems than can be handled by the central committee. 
Each denomination should have such a committee, as well as the 
Associations, the local and state federations, and the national inter- 
denominational agencies. They should be available for whatever 
service may be required of them, within the local community as in 
the Church at large. Does a serious labor dispute break out in a 
certain industry? There should be a competent and representative 
committee of the Church to see whether any moral principles are 
involved, in which the public opinion of the conmiunity ought to be 
educated. Is there a race riot, as at Tulsa? There should be a 
similar group to determine how far the churches are responsible for 
the existence of the causes which led to it, and what they can do 
to remove them. 

In planning the work of such a group of committees care should 
be taken to distinguish two different kinds of work: that of deter- 
mining principles, and that of applying them in detail. The former 

*A suggestive precedent is furnished by the Committee on the War and 
the Religious Outlook from whose studies we have drawn so liberally in the 
preparation of this volume. This committee was official in the sense that it 
was created by the joint action of the Federal Council and the General War- 
Time Commission of the Churches, but it was left entirely free to act on its 
own initiative in its choice of subjects and methods of work. What was more 
important, it had no executive responsibility of any kind. It was chosen for 
one purpose and for one alone, to do collective thinking. 



THINKING TOGETHER 345 

should be the task of the central committee; the latter may well be 
left to those on the ground who are more familiar with the facts to 
be passed on.^ 

The need of such a central committee becomes specially appar- 
ent when we consider those larger questions of race and nationality 
which affect all branches of the Church alike. On world problems 
the whole Church must learn to think together, for the problems 
which confront any one part of the Church confront the other parts 
as well, and only unity all along the line can bring success. The 
case of disarmament is such a problem. War, as we have seen re- 
peatedly in the course of this study, is the result of causes that are 
often remote from the immediate issue and sentiments which must 
be dealt with at the source. It is clear that in a question of this 
magnitude and complexity no one branch of the Church alone can 
do what needs to be done. All the churches must work together and 
together create the common sentiment about war which in the end 
will make it impossible. 

In this spirit of world-wide service we in America ought to ap- 
proach the tasks and problems of our own home church. Nothing 
could do more to promote the cause of world brotherhood than to 
see the churches of a country like America effectively organized 
for national service. And nowhere could this organization better 
begin than with the creation of such a central committee as we 
have briefly sketched. It would help to form the public opinion 
which would shape the policy of all the constituent churches. It 
would suggest improvements in the existing organization of the 
churches, and make it easier to bring them about. It would rein- 
force the efforts of those who are recruiting for Christian service, 
by helping to define more clearly the object for which life service 
is asked. Above all, by bringing to clearer expression the central 
loyalties and convictions which all Christians hold in common, 
it would help to fuse the many minds within the Church into a 
common mind. 

^ An example of the more detailed study needed is the survey of St. Louis 
recently completed by the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys. A 
similar study is greatly needed for New York City. This is a field in which 
every kind of difficulty is to be met with and success is possible only through 
the most intelligent and complete co-operation. Yet it is a field in which 
there is as yet not only no adequate co-operation of Christians, but no com- 
plete marshalling of the facts we need to know in order to make such co-opera- 
tion possible. 



CONCLUSION 



THE CHURCH AND THE DEMOCRACY OF THE FUTURE 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHURCH TO THE DEMOCRACY OF 

THE FUTURE^ 

1. The Spiritual Significance of Organization as a Challenge to 

Christian Citizenship and Churchmanship — Need of an 

International Organization to Unify Democracy 

We have reached the end of our study. It remains to sum up 
our conclusions. We began by raising two questions: first, what 
modern democratic society has a right to expect of the Church; 
secondly, what reason we have for believing that this just expecta- 
tion will be realized. We are ready now to give our answer: 
Democracy has a right to expect of the Church a unifying spiritual 
influence, springing from a common faith, and issuing in common 
action. Our reason for believing that this just expectation can be 
realized is the increasing number of persons who accept this ideal 
of the Churches function, and the demonstration which they have 
given of the possibility of united action when the will to union 
exists. But whether this reasonable hope will be fully realized will 
depend upon what we who belong to the Church of to-day do to 
overcome our divisive sentiments and habits and to carry to com- 
pletion the work which our predecessors have begun. 

We end with an opportunity, not a certainty. Fulfilment will 
not come of itself. There is a condition attached, simple in prin- 
ciple but infinitely complex in its application. These pages have 
been devoted to showing what that condition is. It is the whole- 
hearted co-operation of all those who have felt the world's need of 
a united church in making the Church what we know it ought to be. 

It is difficult to over-estimate the strength of this appeal. Every 
chapter of this book has brought its cumulative evidence of the 
magnitude and gravity of the crisis we face. We are standing be- 
tween two worlds — the world of selfish competition whose reliance 
is only on force, and the world of mutual helpfulness and co-opera- 

^ A few sentences in this chapter have been taken from an address of the 
author entitled "The Contribution of the Church to the Democracy of the 
Future," Religious Education, October, 1918. 

349 






350 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

tion which appeals to reason and goodwill. We have seen the out- 
come of the first method when practised on a world scale and we 
dimly foresee possibilities ahead more appalling still. The second 
method, successful within limited groups, has still to be tried on a 
world scale. There are many who fear that, if tried, it cannot 
succeed. There are a few who for their own reasons do not wish to 
have it tried. 

The issue is all the more serious because it is a moral issue. It 
is a conflict of philosophies — rather, shall we say, a conflict of reli- 
gions. Two theories of world organization are contending for the 
mastery: the soldier's theory and the teacher's theory — ^the theory 
that would unify by conquest, working from without, and the the- 
ory that would unify by consent, working from within. Between 
them there can be no compromise; in the end one or the other must 
conquer. 

We have enlisted on the side of democracy. We believe that the 
bond which is permanently to unite the peoples must be an inner 
bond. Against the forces which autocracy commands, there is only 
one power which can prevail, and that is the power of an ideal. 

The difiiculty with the democratic method of securing unity 
lies in the presence of ideals that conflict. When we appeal to men 
on the basis of their present aspirations we find these aspirations 
working for division rather than for unity. We see this in the in- 
tensified group consciousness which expresses itself in the desire of 
different bodies of men to break away from the larger units of which 
they form a part and to live their own lives in independence. Where 
we have to do with homogeneous groups within the same territory 
we may hope for a unity which is consistent with freedom; but 
when men of different race or class are living side by side the prob- 
lem is more diflficult. Here unity is possible only through the dis- 
covery of some ideal more inclusive than either race or class, some- 
thing which makes appeal to a larger faith and calls forth a deeper 
loyalty. 

Such an ideal is citizenship. The nation may include persons 
of different racial stock and conflicting economic interests who are 
yet one in loyalty to its institutions and obedience to its laws. 
Take Switzerland, for example. Switzerland contains elements, on 
the face of them, most unfavorable to unity. Yet its national life 
has persisted unbroken for centuries. It includes races as antago- 



THE CHURCH AND THE DEMOCRACY OF THE FUTURE 351 

nistic as the French and the Germans. It has no natural economic 
unity, no obvious geographical boundary. It has not even unity of 
language. Yet it has stood the test of the last war successfully, 
though appealed to by the most powerful motives from either side.^ 

Our own country is another illustration. All the different coun- 
tries of Europe have poured their streams into the broad sea that 
is America. • The ancestors of the men who fought shoulder to 
shoulder at Gettysburg in defence of the Union had fought one 
another in the lands from which they came. Yet here they found 
something which made them spiritually one. The same is true of 
the men who yesterday were fighting with us in France, men with 
names that we find it hard to spell, much more to pronounce. Poles 
and Russians, Czecho-Slovaks and Austrians, enemies at home, and 
still separated by language, tradition, and even by religion, have 
become fellow-citizens in the United States. 

It is clear that if we are to realize our hope of world organiza- 
. tion, we must discover some inner principle of unity that will do for 
mankind at large what patriotism does for individual peoples. It 
must be intimate and concrete, operating through sentiments and 
habits as well as through reason; for reason plays a very modest 
part among the factors which actually influence man. It must be 
familiar and ancient, growing out of the past, which does not need 
to be explained; something that we can take for granted, as the 
. nation takes for granted the loyalty of its citizens when danger 
threatens the national independence or integrity. Without such an 
inner bond all forms of outward organization will be futile. If we 
are to have an organized world we must have a world soul. 

There are groups in all the different countries who perceive this. 
Notably is it true of the radical groups, whether they hold the 
Socialist creed or the more individualistic philosophy of the Indus- 
trial Workers of the World. In each case they see that if the new 
world order for which they are striving is ever to be realized, there 
must be a community of sentiment as well as of interest among the 
members who compose it. They are trying to create such a unity 
where it does not exist, and to give it an organ of expression where 
it is already present. 

But they are handicapped by the narrowness of their horizon. 

*Cf. Bryce, "Modem Democracies," London, 1921, Vol. I, pp. 367 sq. 



352 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

Their appeal is a class appeal. In their new world order there is a 
place for the working classes of all countries, but those who uphold 
the capitalistic system are enemies who must be subdued or ex- 
pelled. Russia has given us an illustration of the extremes to which 
this philosophy may go. We have seen the Bolsheviki turning the 
guns which were used in the war against Germany upon their own 
countrymen in order to establish the Soviet Republic and demand- 
ing unconditional submission to the will of one class — ^the prole- 
tariat — as the first step toward realizing the true social ideal. 

The radical movement is further handicapped by its lack of 
historical perspective. It is not only a class movement; it is a 
modern movement. Like all revolutions, it is ready to break with 
the past in order to create a better future; but it has no adequate 
substitute to offer for that which it surrenders. It has no great 
tradition reaching back across the centuries uniting it to men of 
other times and of other faiths ; no common symbol which it shares 
with those who feel themselves the heirs of all the ages. 

Here, then, is the opportunity of the Christian Church. Chris- 
tianity, like Socialism, is an international movement, but it em- 
braces men of all classes as well as of all races. There is no spot 
on earth where Christianity has not made itself a home; no special 
stratum from which it has not drawn adherents. In time as well 
as in space it is ecumenical. It reaches back through the centuries 
and finds something good in each ; but its face is turned toward the 
future. Its word to the individual is: "You must be born again;" 
to society: "The Kingdom of God is at hand." Thus uniting rever- 
ence for the past with limitless anticipation for the future, the 
Christian religion possesses qualities which fit it to become the 
unifying element for the democracy of the future. 

But these splendid possibilities must be utilized, and for this 
organization is necessary. Priceless as is our inheritance it will not 
become truly ours until we make it ours by use. To this use the 
living Church must point the way. We must take the old words 
which long association has clothed with a remote and artificial 
sanctity and make them a part of the vital thought of to-day; 
we must devise the new forms of social organization through 
which the ideals they express may be translated from hope into 
accomplishment; we must add to the lesser loyalties which divide 
the citizens of the different nations, the inclusive citizenship of the 
Kingdom of God. 



THE CHURCH AND THE DEMOCRACY OF THE FUTURE 353 

2. The Contribution of the American Church to the Larger 

Democratic Experiment 

At the beginning of our study we warned our readers that our 
inquiry would concern itself with many questions of organization 
and polity which seemed remote from present spiritual interest, 
but we have signally failed in our purpose if it has not become clear 
in the course. of our discussion how large a part these matters play 
in the development of that vital religion for the sake of which 
alone the Church exists. Constitutions and committees are only 
machinery; and, like all machinery, they need to be tested by use. 
But like the wires that convey our electricity they are indis- 
pensable for the transmission of power. If contact be not made 
between the dynamo and the lamp to which it supplies light or the 
engine which it is to drive, the power which nature has stored up 
for our service will waste itself without result or become a minister 
of death instead of life. So the spiritual potentialities which God 
has provided for our uplift and our happiness will never reach us 
unless a contact is made and man is brought into touch with his 
fellow-men whom God's Spirit has touched. God is the power- 
house from which all goodness and all healing spring. It is for the 
Church to make the contacts that will set His Spirit free to do His 
beneficent work. 

It is against this background that we must set the study to 
which the foregoing pages have been devoted. We have been study- 
ing the American Church not for its own sake simply, but to under- 
stand its contribution to the larger democratic experiment. For as 
the Providence of God — using methods we could not foresee and 
can not control — has brought the American people to the place 
where what they do and what they refrain from doing affects not 
their own destiny only, but all the peoples of mankind, so He has 
given the American churches an opportunity which they hold in 
trust not for themselves alone, but for the Church universal. 

This opportunity is compounded of different elements. It is due 
in part to the strategic position held at present by the American 
people. Whatever may be in store in the more distant future, it is 
generally conceded that in the years immediately before us the 
course taken by the United States in world affairs will be of mo- 
mentous consequence for the future of civilization. With our vast 
territory and all but exhaustless natural resources, with our tradi- 



354 THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

tion of independence and inventiveness, with the absence of external 
danger and of the suspicion and fear which accompany such danger, 
with our young men still largely spared to us although others have 
lost their millions, we represent a reservoir of energy of incalculable 
power for good or incomparable possibility for harm. It will depend 
largely upon what the American churches do in the next generation 
whether the role America plays in the world brings blessing or 

bane. 

This opportunity is due also to the Church's inheritance of the 
democratic spirit. In the weakness as well as in the strength of this 
spirit, the American Church has shared to the full. But when all 
allowance has been made for democracy's failures, it is still true 
that in democracy the world's hope lies.^ If the ideals we cherish 
are to be realized at all, they can be realized only through the co- 
operation of free men. But the Church is of all American institu- 
tions the freest. Its laws are of its own making; its standards self- 
imposed. As it has developed its institutions little by little to meet 
the changing needs of the past, so it can modify them as experience 
may show to be necessary to meet the new needs of the future. 
In the Church, therefore, we have the opportunity to try the demo- 
cratic experiment under the most favorable auspices. 

This opportunity is due, further, to the intimate relation which 
exists between the American churches and their sister churches of 
other lands. No form of living Christianity anywhere but has its 
representative here. No experiment tried here, therefore, but will 
have its reflex influence upon those who are our spiritual kin. 
What we do to bring the churches of America together will en- 
courage those who are working for Christian unity everywhere. 
What we achieve in Christianizing our social and industrial rela- 
tionships will increase the faith of all those the world over who are 
trying to prove that Christianity is a practicable religion. 

For all these reasons we need enlightened and united leadership. 
Upon all who are responsible for the shaping of the Church's policy 
during the next few years, particularly upon those in ofiicial posi- 
tion, rests the most solemn of duties: to see to it that each thmg 
they do and each decision they make in the particular part of the 
Church they serve, promotes and does not hinder this larger con- 
summation. Above all it is their duty to foster the spirit of sympa- 

^ Even Dean Inge admits that with all democracy's faults he sees no more 
promising alternative. Cf. "The Future," Atlantic Monthly, March, 1922. 



THE CHURCH AND THE DEMOCRACY OF THE FUTURE 355 

thetic understanding and brotherly goodwill without which effective 
co-operation on a world-wide scale is impossible. 

One more factor in the case needs to be added, and that is the 
urgency of the situation itself. We are not referring here to any of 
the outward difficulties and dangers which we have passed in review, 
but to something more intimate and vital still. We refer to the deep 
need of God which has been born out of the darkness and despair 
of the time.' All over the world there are men and women who are 
spiritually orphaned, longing for some clear revelation of goodness 
at the heart of things. To-day as in every past age men need to 
be assured that there is a good God who cares, and that when Jesus 
said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," he spoke the 
truth. This reassuring message only a reunited Church can give, 
for to be given effectively it must be expressed not in words but 
through deeds. - 

In the light of this world-wide opportunity the Church makes 
its appeal to the young men and women of our country. This is the 
real call to the Christian ministry — not simply to the ministry of 
preaching, but to the wider ministry which includes every indi- 
vidual, the ministry of which Jesus offered the great example when 
He gave Himself on the Cross for the life of the world. 



INDEX 



Adams, Henry, 144, 
Ad interim committees in denomina- 
tions, 252. 

Administrative Committee of the 
Federal Council, 103, 247, 261, 267. 

Administrative Committee of the 
National Catholic War Council, 
268. 

Administrative union, 186; what is 
meant by, 235; agencies for inter- 
denominational, 235-242; see also 
Union. 

Administrative workers, need of more 
effective training for, 306. 

Adventists, 66, 87. 

Africa, 9, 49, 236. 

African Methodist Episcopal Church, 
262. 

African Methodist Episcopal Zion 
Church, 262. 

Africans, 51. 

Agencies of local cooperation, 186. 

Alaska, 237, 240. 

Alexandria, 198, 320. 

Alliance of Reformed Churches 
throughout the World Holding the 
Presbyterian System, 83, 273. 

Allies, 268, 269. 

Amalgamated Garment Workers, 38. 

America, 49, 54; as a Christian na- 
tion, 80. 

American Baptist Home Mission 
Society, departments of, 227. 

American Bible Society, 103, 242. 

American Christian Convention, 262. 

American Christianity and interna- 
tional problems, 46-60; democratic 
character of, 64; provincialism of, 
73; denominationalism of, 73; 
hopeful factors in, 87-91. 

American Church, 46, 126; differing 
estimates of, 5-7; an experiment in 
democracy, 63-65; importance of, 
for the understanding of the Ameri- 
can people, 64; provincialism of, 
72; individualism of, 74; present 
responsibility of, 275; possible con- 
tribution to world-wide union, 275; 



function of, 345; contribution of, to 
the democratic experiment, 353- 
355; opportunity of, 353; strategic 
position held by, 353; its inheri- 
tance of the democratic spirit, 354; 
freedom of, 354; relation of, to 
other churches, 354; see also 
Church. 

American churches, number and re- 
sources of, 65-72; denominational 
distribution of, 65, 66; in Europe, 
209. 

American Expeditionary Force, 47, 
106. 

American Federation of Labor, 38. 

American International Church, 36. 

American labor movement, 40; see 
also Labor. 

American parish, 203, 204. 

American Protestant churches, 171; 
relation to their sister churches in 
other countries, 272-275; different 
forms of possible cooperation, 272- 
273. 

American Protestantism, denomina- 
tional distribution of, 69-70; out- 
standing characteristics of, 72-76; 
see also Protestantism. 

American Sabbath Association, 242. 

American Sunday-School Union, 41, 
240, 241, 242. 

American Tract Society, 242. 

American women, religious experi- 
ence of, 27; critical attitude toward 
the church, 27; see also Women. 

Andover, 41. 

Anglican, 178. 

Anglicanism, 64 

Anglo-Catholics, 178. 

Annual Conferences of Methodist 
Church, 324. 

Annuity funds, 129. 

Anthony, Alfred Williams, 237. 

Anthony, Robert W., 272. 

Anti-Saloon League, 242, 270. 

Apostles' Creed, 182. 

Apostolic succession, 178. 

Applied Christianity, 319. 



357 



358 



INDEX 



Arab, Arabs, 34, 49. 

Archbishop, 165; of Canterbury, 126, 
275; of York, 126. 

Archbishops' Commissions, 126. 

Architect Secretary, 227. 

Argonne, 19. 

Arkansas, 198. 

Arlington, 100. 

Armament, armaments, 160; limita- 
tion of, 58. 

Armenia, 56. 

Armenians, 49, 56. 

Armistice, 113. 

Armistice Day, 100. 

Army, 47; and religion, 15-23. 

Army and Navy Chaplains, Federal 
Council Commission on, 100, 106, 
261. 

Asia, 9, 49. 

Asia Minor, 56. 

Asiatics, 51. 

Association of Biblical Instructors, 
241, 311. 

Associations, 106, 108, 254; as allies 
of the churches, 247 ; see also Young 
Men's and Young Women's Chris- 
tian Associations and Christian As- 
sociations. 

Atlanta, 218. 

Auburn, 325. 

Augsburg Confession, 84. 

Augustana Synod, 255. 

Australia, 259. 

Austria, 55. 

Austrians, 351. 

Authority, central, distrust of in 
Protestantism, 252-253; unfortunate 
consequences of this distrust, 252. 

Autocracy, 76, 350. 

Autocratic methods in industry, 335. 

Baalbek, 35. 

Bachelor of Pedagogy, 323. 

Babson, Roger, 25. 

Baker, Secretary, 272. 

Balkans, 35, 49, 56. 

Baltimore, 217. 

Bangor, 325. 

Baptism, 81, 182. 

Baptism, infant, 182. 

Baptist, Baptists, 29, 65, 66, 77, 78, 
81, 86, 88, 101, 110, 124, 130, 182, 
198, 204, 215, 223, 224, 232, 253, 
312, 317, 320, 338; basis of estima- 
tion for church membership, 67; 
Northern churches, 70; Southern 
churches, 70; churches, 72; move- 
ment for union between, 256; doc- 



trinal differences in, 257; see also 
Northern Baptist Convention. 
Baptists, Northern, 70, 71, 82, 129, 145, 

257 
Baptists, Southern, 70, 71, 82, 102, 111, 

183, 184, 198, 257. 
Belgium, 263. 

Belief, place of in religion, 150. 
Believers' baptism, 67, 81. 
Bible, 8, 19, 31, 42, 71, 81, 141, 143, 
145. 151, 179, 182, 283, 284, 290, 291, 
293, 303, 308, 309, 313, 318, 321; 
authority of, 142; in public schools, 
289; historic interpretation of, 290; 
critical study of, 319. 
Bible Chairs, 311. 
Bible classes, 311. 
Bible, Frank W., 236. 
Bible Institutes, 145, 322, 323, 324. 
Bible schools, 218, 311 ; vacation, 280. 
Bible study, 312. 
Bible Union, 53. 
Biblical prophecy, 145. 
Big business, 171. 
Bishop, 251. 

Bliss, General Tasker, 58. 
Blue Ridge, 316. 

Board of Church Extension of the 
American Moravian Church, 227. 
Board of Ministerial Relief and Sus- 
tentation of the Presbyterian 
Church in the U. S. A., 253. 
Board of Pastors, 204. 
Board of Promotion of the Northern 
Baptist Convention, General, 82, 
120, 252. 
Board of trustees, 200. 
Boards of the churches, significance 

for organization of, 224. 
Boards of Education, 108; Board of 
Christian Education of the Presby- 
terian Church in the U. S. A., 253. 
Boards of foreign and home missions, 
79, 306; Board of Home Missions 
of the Presbyterian Church in the 
U. S. A., 198, 226, 228, 272; depart- 
ments of, 228-230; Board of Home 
Missions and Church Extension of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
departments of, 227; Board of 
Home Missions of the Reformed 
Church in the U. S., 227; Board of 
Missions of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, 233; Board of Mis- 
sions of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, 234; Woman's 
Board of Foreign Missions of the 
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. 



INDEX 



359 



A., 234; Woman's Board of Home 
Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church in the U. S. A., 234; Board 
of Missionary Preparation, 235, 
241; Board of Home Missions and 
Social Service of the Presbyterian 
Church in Canada, 237; Board of 
Foreign Missions of the Presby- 
terian Church in the U. S. A., 253; 
Board of National Missions of the 
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. 
A., 253. 

Boards of publication, 235. 

Boer War, 60. 

Bohemians, 68. 

Bolsheviki, 352. 

Bolshevism, 259, 

Boston, 218, 319. 

Boston Federation of Churches, 271. 

Boys' clubs, 222. 

Boy Scouts, 157. 

Brent, Bishop Charles H., 107. 

Brick Presbyterian Church, 203. 

Briggs, Dr., 143. 

British Isles, 35. 

Brooklyn, 214. 

Brooklyn Navy Yard, 46. 

Bronx, 215. 

Brotherhood, 54. 

Brotherhood of man, 43, 56. 

Brown, Arthur J., 275. 

Brown, Charles R., 3, 232. 

Brown, H. G., 41. 

Brown, M. E., 41. 

Brown, W. Adams, 53, 93, 111, 137, 
147, 156, 177, 199, 272, 284, 292, 295, 
314, 317, 336. 

Bryan, 141. 

Bryce, Viscount, 63, 351. 

Buddhist abbot, 55. 

Bureau of Research, 232. 

Burke, Father John, 272. 

Bushnell, Horace, 32, 281. 

Business men, new interest of, in 
study, 334. 

Caird, John, 147. 

Cairns, David, 20. 

California, 36, 52, 83, 198, 218, 311, 

326. 
Callao, 198. 
Calvin, 74, 159, 222. 
Calvinism, 81. 

Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 60. 
Camp Devens, 17. 
Camp Dix, 21. 
Camp Meade, 21. 
Camp pastors, 17, 95. 



Camp Upton, 110. 

Canada, 53, 60, 116, 188, 236, 237, 259. 

Canadian boards, 237. 

Canadian Home Mission Societies, 
237. 

Canal Zone, 209. 

Capital, 43, 298, 330j and labor, 232; 
new educational interest of, 298. 

Capitalist, 38. 

Capitol, 100. 

Carroll, H. K., 63. 

Catechetical method, 280. 

Catechetical training, 20. 

Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 109. 

Catholicism, 256, 287; see also Roman 
Catholicism. 

Catholics, English-speaking, 72. 

Catholic tradition, 8, 83; elements in 
Protestant churches, 190; meaning 
of the term, 190. 

Catholic War Council, 96. 

Cavalier, 64. 

Cavert, Samuel McCrea, 263. 

Census of Religious Bodies, United 
States, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 83, 129, 
255. 

Centenary celebration, 57. 

Central authority, distrust of in Prot- 
estantism, 252, 253; unfortunate 
consequences of this distrust, 252. 

Central executive authority, lack of 
this in Protestant churches, 250 ; 
bearing of this lack on Christian 
unity, 250. 

Central executive body, relation to 
local churches, 250, 251. 

Centralization, distrust of by the 
American people, 77 ; by the Ameri- 
can churches, 77; growing tendency 
toward in the Protestant churches, 
252; in the Presbyterian Church, 
252, 253. 

Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey, 
298. 

Chaplains, 80, 95, 102, 106. 

Chaplains' School, 106, 107, 272. 

Charity, 55; organized, 270. 

Chicago, 145, 216, 217, 218, 294. 

Chicago Commons, 319. 

Chicago Federation of Churches, 215, 
216, 218. 

Child in industry, 32. 

Child labor, 32. 

Child psychology, 32. 

Children under thirteen in the 
Church, proportion of, 67; among 
Protestants, 67; among Roman 
Catholics, 67. 



360 



INDEX 



Chillingworth, 293. 
China, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 88, 145, 236, 
264, 294, 337; educational revival 

in, 49. 
China Continuation Committee, 53. 
China Famine Relief Fund, 55. 
Chinatown, 35. 
Chinese, 49, 52, 54, 168. 
Choir-master, 222. 

Christ, 6, 19, 22, 60, 99, 138, 139, 162, 
283, 284, 285, 291, 302, 331; Second 
Advent of, 6; as judge, 151; see 
also Jesus Christ. 
Christ Church, 203. 
Christendom, 180; divisions of, 184. 
Christian Associations, 94, 111, 112, 
120, 224, 237, 240, 250, 253, 291, 
342; close relationship to the 
churches, 243, 247, 248; significance 
of for the work of the Church, 243; 
problems before the, 245 ; principles 
underlying the organization of, 245, 
246; relation to each other, 246, 
247; relation to local church, 246; 
cooperation of in county work, 246 ; 
possible relations to the churches, 
247; opportunities of conference 
with the churches, 247, 248; need 
of conserving their freedom and ini- 
tii^tive, 248; relation to the Fed- 
eral Council, 268; see also Asso- 
ciations and Young Men's and 
Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tions. 
Christian Church, see Church. 
Christian Church, Forward Move- 
ment of the, 102. 
Christian doctrine, 19; Gospel, 21; 
religion, 51; experience, 142, 180, 
189; theology, 148; social order, 
162; social ideal, 164; way of 
realizing the ideal, 165; view of 
race, 167, 168; view of nationality, 
168; democracy, 217; service, 286; 
religion, history of, 292; institu- 
tions, 293, 321; missions, 319; 
ethics, 319, 321. 
Christian education, 32, 127, 186, 217, 
279, 308; need of a comprehensive 
program of, 241; agencies of, 241, 
242, 268; need of a permanent or- 
ganization of, 242; relation of 
agencies of, to the Federal Council, 
268; see also Boards of Education. 
Christian Education, Federal Council 

Commission on, 262. 
Christianity, 3; forces that challenge, 
9j as a self-centred religion, 21; 



effect of war upon, 51; as a prac- 
ticable religion, 54, 156; proof of 
its practicability, 292; the mother 
of institutions, 292; causes of pres- 
ent alienation from, 297; applied, 
greater interest in, 319. 

Christian ministry, unrest in, 127, 128; 
competition of other forms of life 
work, 128; unfortunate conditions 
in, 129; insecurity of tenure, 130; 
evidence of interest in, 131; inade- 
quate training for, 131; need of a 
new spirit in, 133; problem of the 
older man in, 133. 

Christian Reformed Church in North 
America, 262. 

Christians, 66. 

Christian Science, 69, 75, 202. 

Christian Scientists, 66, 299. 

Christian unity, 10, 43, 90, 139, 140, 
146, 184, 248, 295, 331; on the for- 
eign field, 52; movement for, 173- 
178; liberal view of, 174, 175; rea- 
sons against, 175; influences lead- 
ing toward, 177; different form of 
movement for, 177; right method 
of approach to, 184; different 
phases of parts of a single move- 
ment, 188; obstacles to, 188; m 
Canada, 188; official aspects of the 
movement for, 189; need of con- 
tacts for, 189; principles which con- 
dition future progress toward, 189- 
191; theoretical difficulties in the 
way of, 190; moral difficulties in 
the way of, 190; need of frankness 
in facing difficulties, 190; obstacles 
to presented by the existing situa- 
tion in the denominations, 249-255; 
see also Union, 

Christ-like God, 169. 

Christ-like society, 156. 

Church, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 43, 167; 
as a social asset, 3; and social bet- 
terment, 6; need of a sound theoiy 
of, 7; membership in the army, 17; 
and the war, soldiers' criticism of, 
22; indifference to, 22; and social 
progress, 25; attendance, 25; ad- 
ministration, 28 ; missionary task of, 
changes in, 40-42 ; as the rich man's 
club, 44; attitude of, toward the 
League of Nations, 57-60; organi- 
zations, number and membership 
of, 65, 66; buildings, value of, 65, 
68; debt, amount of, 65, 68; be- 
nevolences, amount of, 65, 68; prop- 
erty, value of, 65, 68; and state in 



<•■ 



INDEX 



361 



the United States, 76-81 ; unity, 
86; Christian, 87; and international 
brotherhood, 97-101 ; work of, for 
the soldiers, 94-96; what the war 
did for the, 114; problem of its 
nature, 137; principles governing 
our ideal for, 138, 139; as a religious 
institution, 138; and state, 140, 
289; breadth of its mission, 138; 
and the new social order, 153-156; 
stake of, in the new social order, 
153-156; nature and limits of social 
responsibility of, 157; and state, 
Roman Catholic view of, 158, 159; 
Protestant view of, 159; Ritschl's 
view of, 159; relation of, to indus- 
try, 163-168; social mission of, 169- 
172; principles governing, 169; as 
an institution, 171 ; as an experi- 
ment station, 172, 184, 185; as the 
scene of compromise, 172; as spir- 
itual society and as ecclesiastical 
institution, 173-191 ; as corpus per- 
mixtum, 174; of the New Testa- 
ment, 174; as an institution, differ- 
ent views of the significance of, 
178-182; different views of the 
attitude of, toward political and 
economic questions, 183; as a liv- 
ing organism, 184; progress in, 184; 
of the future, 186; inferences as to 
the future organization of, 186-188; 
specializing for service, 224-248; 
extension, 227; interest in indus- 
trial questions, 231 ; erection, 232 ; 
union, movement for in Canada, 
259; school, 280; responsibility of 
for religious education, 287, 303; 
as an instrument of divine educa- 
tion, 191 ; in the community, 195- 
219; as a school of religion, 279- 
301 ; member, 292 ; as an agency 
for realizing the Christian ideal in 
society, 292; organization, need of 
studying and understanding, 294; 
contribution to political education, 
300; as a developing institution, 
303; as a business enterprise, 305; 
as an educational enterprise, 305; 
as field for Christian leadership, 
305; the living Church as an edu- 
cational institution, 307, 326; as an 
institution of worship, 317; history, 
318, 321 ; as a training school in co- 
operative thinking, 327-333; differ- 
ences as to nature, 331 ; present 
opportunity of, 349; seriousness of 
the issue, 349, 350; contribution of, 



to the future of democracy, 349- 

355; international character of the 

Christian, 352; witness of a united 

Church to the living God, 355; see 

also American Church. 
Church and Race Relations, Federal 

Council Commission on the, 166, 

232, 261, 270, 343. 
Church and Social Service, Federal 

Council Commission on the, 261. 
Churches of Christ, 66, 70, 87. 
Churches of God in North America, 

262; Centennial Movement of the, 

120. 
Churches, relation of, to the Christian 

Associations, 247, 248. 
Church Extension Committee, 204, 

216, 229, 231. 
Church Extension Societies, 214. 
Church Headquarters, 110. 
Church of England, 83, 273. 
Church of Rome, 142. 
Church of the Covenant, 203. 
Church of the Lutheran Brethren, 

255. 
Church Peace Union, 58. 
Cincinnati, 218. 
Citizen, 164. 
Citizenship as a unifying ideal, 350; 

United States as an example of, 

351. 
City as a laboratory, 324. 
City Missions Council of Brooklyn, 

215. 
City Missions Council of New York, 

214. 
City Mission Societies, 214. 
City Missions Society of New York, 

215. 
Civic forums, 222. 
Civil War, 65. 
Class, 28, 350; consciousness, growth 

of, 37-39; struggle, 38; problem of, 

42, 43; Christian view of, 170; an-. 

tagonism, 175; appeal, 352. 
Classis, 42, 77, 250, 254. 
Cleveland, 89, 217, 219. 
Coale, J. J., 44, 
Coe, George Albert, 281. 
' Collective thinking, need of an or- 
gan for, in the Church, 339-345. 
College boards, 79. 
College pastor, pastors, 311, 313, 
Colleges, 235, 280, 289, 307, 308; and 

universities, 241 ; responsibility of, 

for religious education, 308; see 

also Universities. 
Colorado, 240, 31L 



362 



INDEX 



Colored Methodist Episcopal Church 
in America, 262. 

Colored Work, 227. 

Columbia University, 36, 314, 315, 319. 

Columbus, 132. 

Comity and cooperation, 237. 

Comity Committee, 215. 

Commission of Religious Forces, 154, 
166. 

Commission on Christian Education, 
262. 

Commission on Councils of Churches, 
216, 261. 

Commission on International Justice 
and Goodwill, 263, 274. 

Commission on Missions of the Na- 
tional Council of the Congrega- 
tional Churches, 252. 

Commission on Oriental Relations, 
263. 

Commission on Social Service of the 
Episcopal Church, 111. 

Commission on Social Service and 
National Catholic Welfare Council, 
joint investigation of bituminous 
coal fields recommended by, 271. 

Commission on the Church and Race 
Relations, 168. 

Commission on the Church and Social 
Service, 166, 232, 261, 270, 343. 

Commission on the Relation of the 
Young Men's Christian Association 
to the Churches, 247. 

Commission on Training Camp Activ- 
ities, 106. 

Committee on Army and Navy Chap- 
lains, 100. 

Committee on Conservation and Ad- 
vance of the Council of the Boards 
of Benevolence of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, 120. 

Committee on Cooperation in Latin 
America, 53. 

Committee on Methods of Coopera- 
tion of Boston meeting, 265. 

Committee on Recruiting and Train- 
ing for the Work of the Church, 
108. 

Committee of Reference and Coun- 
sel, 236. 

Committee of Six, 272. 

Committee on Social and Religious 
Surveys, 226, 345. 

Committee on the War and the Reli- 
gious Outlook, 16, 48, 111-113, 163, 
242, 263, 279, 344; constitution of, 
112; method of procedure, 112. 

Committees on supply, 132. 



Communicants' classes, 304. 

Community church, 205-213; what is 
meant by, 205; different forms of, 
206; with denominational affilia- 
tions, 209-211; numbers of, 210; 
advantages of, 210; difficulties of, 
211; influence of women in, 212; 
need of relating to denominational 
organizations, 212; movement, im- 
portance of, 212. 

Community Church in New York 
City, statement of purpose of, 205, 
206. 

Community evangelization, 218. 

Community need, problem presented 
to the Christian Associations, 246. 

Competitive element in human na- 
ture, 156. 

Compromise, 161, 179; Christian view 
of, 161 ; principles governing the 
Christian attitude to, 161, 162. 

Comte, 144. 

Concentration, 332. 

Concordat, 211. 

Conference, 70, 77. 

Conference on Faith and Order, 274, 
275; committees of, 275. 

Conference on Life and Work, 275. 

Conference on organic union, 260. 

Conference of Theological Seminaries 
of the United States and Canada, 
241, 322, 323, 342; committees of, 
323. 

Conferences, annual, of Methodist 
Church, 324. 

Confession, 288. 

Congregational, 200, 317, 320; minis- 
try, condition of, 131. 

Congregational Churches, 110, 129, 
146, 223, 253, 259, 262; Conference 
of Southern California, 57; World 
Movement, 120; National Council 
of the, 131; Educational Society, 
132; and the Lawrence strike, 232; 
Executive Committee of the Na- 
tional Council of the, 252; Commis- 
sion on Missions of the National 
Council of the, 252. 

CongregationaJism, 64, 72, 207, 208, 257 

Congregationalist, Congregationalists, 
29, 65, 66, 70, 77, 78, 81, 83, 101, 
209, 232, 290, 317. 

Congress, 251. 

Congresses of philanthropic workers, 
270. 

Connecticut, 35, 218. 

Connecticut State Federation, 218. 

Conscience, 148. 



INDEX 



363 



Consecration, 86; need of, in social 
matters, 170. 

Consensus of Christian experience, 
180. 

Conservatives, 147. 

Constantinople, 259. 

Constitution of the United States, 187. 

Constructive thinkers, need of de- 
veloping and training, 306. 

Constructive thought, 307. 

Consumer, 164. 

Contact, need of, 189; importance of, 
for successful thinking, 330; Church 
as providing an opportunity of, 
332; need of, for successful think- 
ing, 334. 

Continent, 132. 

Continuation Committee, Commit- 
tees, 29, 53, 186, 235, 322; of Edin- 
burgh Conference, 53; of Garden 
City Conference, 242. 

Conventions, 186. 

Conversion, 86, 285, 288. 

Cooperation, 156, 158; in theological 
education in China, 52; between 
Christians, 146; contribution to- 
ward unity, 187; between Protes- 
tants, Catholics and Jews, 272; in 
thinking, its importance, 327. 

Cooperative movement, 7, 299; meth- 
od of study, 164; thinking, condi- 
tions of, 332-338; religious think- 
ing, contribution of higher institu- 
tions of learning to, 336. 

Cope, 311. 

Copernican astronomy, 150. 

Cornell, 311. 

Cotton mills.. 50. 

Council, 70. 

Council of Christian Education, 343. 

Council of Church Boards of Educa- 
tion, 90, 121, 127, 240, 241, 244, 279, 
306, 312, 317; Life Work Commit- 
tee of the, 127; work of, 312. 

Council of Churches, 213. 

Councils of Churches, Federal Coun- 
cil Commission on, 216, 261. 

Council of College Pastors, 311. 

Council of the Boards of Benevolence 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
120, 252. 

Council of Women for Home Mis- 
sions, 103, 228, 235, 236, 237, 248. 

Country life, 232; Department of, 198. 

Country church, 197, 198; as com- 
munity centre, 201. 

Country Church Commission, 227. 

County federations, 218. 



Courses on religion in universities, 
need of correlating, 314. 

Court of International Justice, 177. 

Creation, 151; in religion, 11. 

Criticism, 143. 

Cromwell, 74. 

Creed, Creeds, 143, 151, 284, 291; dif- 
ferent attitudes to, 150, 151. 

Cumberland Mountain Presbytery, 
230. 

Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
256. 

Cumberland Presbyterian Education- 
al Endowment Commission, 120. 

Curriculum, 281, 313, 318; changes in, 
321. 

Curtis, Professor, 340. 

Cutler, Colonel Harry, 272. 

Czecho-Slovak, Czecho-Slovaks, 226, 
228, 351. 

Czecho-Slovakia, 273. 

Daily chapel, 313. 

Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church 
in America, 256. 

Dante, 174. 

Darwin, 141. 

Dayton, 218. 

Deacon, Deacons, 222, 223. 

Deaconesses, 29, 223. 

Deaconess' schools, 324. 

Decentralizing tendency in American 
Christianity, 132. 

Democracy, 3, 350; and the Church, 
3-5, 7, 349 ; in religion, 287. 

Democratic spirit, 91 ; control of in- 
dustry, 336. 

DenOixiination, Denominations, 63, 
77; relative gain or loss m numbers, 
72; significance of, 180, 181; lack 
of effective central organization in, 
249, 250; lack of unity withm, 249- 
255; failure of the boards to meet 
this need, 250; leading groups of, 
255. 

Denominational Christianity, 73; its 
two forms, 73; types, 81-87; spirit, 
123, 294; its good points, 123, 124; 
its dangers, 124; consciousness, 186; 
cooperation, need of official, 189; 
rivalry, 197, 206; church function- 
ing for the entire community, 209- 
211; forward movements, 252; 
families, movement for the reunion 
of, 255; colleges, 289, 309, 310, 312; 
required religious education in, 310; 
differences, 294; control of sem- 
inaries, 317; training schools, 324. 



364 



INDEX 



Denominationalism, 21, 140, 148; of 
American Christianity, 73; versus 
nationalism, 273. 

Denver, 154, 166, 176. 

Denver churches and the car strike, 
232. 

Denver Commission of Religious 
Forces, 232, 271. 

Denver Trades and Labor Assembly, 
176. 

Department, Departments, 42, 227; 
what is meant by, 227; relation to 
older forms of work, 227. 

Department of Church and Country 
Life, 198, 228, 229, 230; work of, 
229; relation to parishes and pres- 
byteries, 230. 

Department of City and Immigrant 
Work, 228, 229; service of, 228; as 
a training school, 228; work of in 
planning community work, 228; in 
inspiring home church, 229. 

Department of Missions and Church 
Extension of the Domestic and 
Foreign Missionary Society of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
U. S. A., 227. 

Department of Nation-Wide Cam- 
paign of the Presiding Bishop and 
Council of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, 102. 

Department of Religious Education, 
304, 321. 

Department of Social Service, 228, 
230. 

Department of Vacancy and Supply, 
132. 

Detroit, 217, 218, 271; cooperation of 
Roman Catholics and Protestants 
m, 271. 

Devil, 145. 

Devme, Edward T., 154, 232. 

Dewey, Professor, 49. 

Difference, the Christian way of deal- 
mg with, 327-333; the problem of, 
in religion, 329. 

Differentiated ministry illustrated in 
the boards of the Church, 223; 
foundation for, m present organiza- 
tion of Church, 223. 

Diocese, 42, 77, 250, 251, 253. 

Diocese of Massachusetts, 30. 

Diplomatic problems, 233. 

Disarmament, 58. 

Disarmament Conference, 50. 

Disciples Bible College, 311. 

Disciples of Christ, 29, 65, 66, 70, 81, 
83. 86, 87. 182, 198, 208, 215, 232, 



233, 262, 311; United Christian 
Missionary Society, 120; Social 
Service Commission of the, 198; as 
a denomination, 208. 

District, 254. 

Divisions of Christendom, possible at- 
titudes toward, 173-178. 

Doctor of Philosophy, 316, 323. 

Doctor of Theology, 316. 

Doctrinal differences among American 
Christians, 70; significance within 
the denominations, 71 ; in the Bap- 
tist Church, 257; in the Episcopal 
Church, 257; in the Presbyterian 
Church, 257; teaching, dislike of in 
our age, 291. 

Dogmas of Faith, 181. 

Dominican, Dominicans, 68, 181. 

Dorsey, Governor, 167. 

Double standard in Roman Catholi- 
cism, 181. 

Drake, 150. 

Duluth, 218. 

Dunkers, 66, 87. 

Dutch, 64. 

Dutch Reformed, 84, 215, 254. 



Eastern Orthodox Churches, 65-66- 

East Side, 34, 35, 203. 

Ecclesiastical control, 318. 

Economic life of the East, 50. 

Ecumenical Councils, 186. 

Edinburgh Conference, 53, 299. 

Editorial Council of the Religious 
Press, 299. 

Education, 227; importance of, 42, 
234; in the East, 49; religious 
agencies of, 235; in denominational 
responsibility, 252; as a social force, 
280 ; as a social process, 281 ; rela- 
tion between theory and practice 
in, 283. 

Educational agencies, 10, 241 ; of the 
churches, 79; work of the Church, 
167; evangelists, need of, 286; in- 
stitutions, 297; task of the Church, 
303; leadership, sources of, 302, 
307; evangelism, 315. 

Edwards, Jonathan, 220, 285. 

Egypt, 35, 56, 160. 

Egyptians, 49. 

Elder, 222, 223. 

Elective courses in religion in state 
universities, 311; in Eastern col- 
leges and universities, 313. 

Electives, increase of in our semi- 
naries, 321. 



INDEX 



365 



Ellis Island, 64, 240. 
Ellwood, Charles A., 3. 
Emmanuel Movement, 202. 
Employee, 164. 

Employees' participation in manage- 
ment, 336. 
Employer, Employers, 39, 164, 286. 
Employers' Association of Pittsburgh, 

24. 
Employers' associations, 175. 
England, 43, 49, 54, 109, 165, 269; 

after the war, 126. 
Episcopacy, 64, 294. 
Episcopal, 183, 204. 
Episcopal Church, 29, 67, 72, 82, 83, 
101, 110, 111, 124, 132, 146, 200, 211, 
215, 251, 252, 253; doctrinal differ- 
ences in, 256, 257; relation to Fed- 
eral Council, 267; see also Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church. 
Episcopalian, Episcopalians, 65, 66, 

70, 77, 78, 221, 223, 294, 312, 324. 
Episcopate, 83; historic, 182. 
Epworth League, 30. 
Equality of religions before the law, 

79. 
Erastians, 159. 
Erie, 218. 

Ethical qualities, 21. 
Ethics, 319; of peace, 155; of war, 

155. 
Europe 5, 9, 45, 47, 48, 51, 54, 55, 56, 

209, 263, 351. 
European prestige, 51. 
Europeans, 51. 

Evangelical Association, 66, 87, 233, 
262; Forward Movement of the, 
120. 
Evangelical Lutheran Church of 

America (Eielsen's Synod), 255. 
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa 

and Other States, 255. 
Evangelical Synod of North America, 
233, 262; Forward Movement of 
the, 120. 
Evangelism, 74, 227, 283, 302; and 

education, 283. 
Evangelism and Life Service, Federal 

Council Commission on, 261. 
Evangelists, educational, need of, 286. 
Evanston, 324. 
Evolution, 141, 310. 
Ex cathedra, 174. 
Excelsior Springs, 212. 
Executive Board of the United 
Lutheran Church in America, 252. 
Executive Commission of the Presby- 
terian Church in the U. S. A., 252. 



Executive Committee (General War- 

Time Commission), 109-110. 
Executive Committee, 252. 
Executive Committee of the National 

Council of the Congregational 

Churches, 252. 
Exegesis, 318. 
Expeditionary Force, American, 47, 

106. 
Experiment in education, 281. 
Experimental method in education. 

280. 



Faith, 285, 291, 329, 330, 333; obsta- 
cles to, 22; in God, 23, 156, 162; in 
God, experimental basis of, 147; 
practical difficulties in the way of, 
156. 

Family as a unit for Christian work. 
246. 

Family of Nations, 58. 

Far East, 48, 50, 56. 

Faunce, W. H. P., 112. 

Federal Council in France, 273; in 
Switzerland, 273; proposed by 
Philadelphia plan, 260. 

Federal Council of the Churches of 
Christ in America, 57, 82, 89, 90, 97, 
98, 100, 103, 110, 111, 121, 166, 168, 
214, 247, 261-269, 274, 299, 306, 343, 
344; Year Book of, 66, 69; nature 
of, 261 ; purposes of, 261 ; Executive 
Committee of, 261; Administrative 
Committee of, 103, 247, 261, 267; 
Commissions of, 261, 262; support 
of, 262; growth of, 262; theoretical 
basis of, 262; churches represented, 
262; achievements of, 263; Boston 
meeting of, 263; program of, 265; 
weaknesses of, 266; further work 
proposed for, 266; changes proposed 
at Boston meeting, 267; financial 
support of, 267; recommendation 
that this be assumed by denomina- 
tions, 267; relation to Home Mis- 
sions Council, 268; to foreign Mis- 
sions Conference, 268; to agencies 
of Christian education, 268; to the 
Christian Associations, 268. 
Federal and organic union, 187; rela- 
tion between illustrated in Ameri- 
can history, 187. 
Federal union, 177, 185, 261-269; 

meaning of, 177; see also Union. 
Federated church, 208, 209; advan- 
tages of, 208; difficulties of, 209; 
other meanings of, 209. 



366 



INDEX 



Federation, movement, 204; larger 
significance of, 219; function of 
representatives, 219. 

Federation of Churches of New York 
City, plans for a more responsible 
and representative federation, 214, 
215. 

Federations of Churches, 102, 186, 
213-219; what is meant by, 213; 
possible ways of forming, 214 ; num- 
ber of, 216; principles of, 216; pro- 
gram of, 217; county, 218; state, 
218; see also local federations. 

Federation of Labor, 175. 

Federation of Woman's Boards of 
Foreign Missions of North America, 
103, 236; work of, 238; representa- 
tion of in Foreign Missions Con- 
ference, 238. 

Financial control of church property, 
200. 

Finney, 285. 

Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church 
of America, 256. 

Finnish Evangelical National Luth- 
eran Church in America, 256. 

Foch, Marshal, 269, 340. 

Follett, 335. 

Food control, 96. 

Foreign-born Americans, 36. 

Foreign field, 29. 

Foreign language press, 36. 

Foreign language publications, 240. 

Foreign-missionary enterprise, 87 ; 
extension of, 52; appeal, broaden- 
ing of, 286. 

Foreign missions, 88, 170, 186; wom- 
en's boards of, 29, 234, 237; and 
internationalism, 48-54; boards, 79; 
effect upon denominationalism, 88; 
Federation of Woman's Boards of 
Foreign Missions of North America, 
103, 236, 238; specialized work of, 
233; problems of organization, 233; 
advantages of united leadership, 
233; different degrees of centraliza- 
tion, 233; see also Boards of; Mis- 
sions. 

Foreign Missions Conference of 
North America, 53, 90, 103, 121, 186, 
235, 236, 248, 306; policy of, 236, 
238; work done by, 236; need of 
strengthening executive power of, 
239; relation to the Federal Coun- 
cil, 268. 
Foreign relations, 45. 
Foreign-speaking churches, number 
and strength of, 68. 



Foreign-speaking element, strength of 

in Roman Catholic churches, 69, 

72; in Eastern Catholic churches, 

69, 72 
Foreign-Speakmg Work, 227. 
Forward movements, denominational, 

252. 
Fosdick, Harry Emerson, 22, 112. 
Foster, O. D., 127, 308. 323 
France, 47, 54, 263, 269, 273, 330, 351. 
Franciscan, Franciscans, 68, 181. 
Fraternal delegate, 90, 230 
Free Baptist General Conference, 262. 
Free Church Council of England and 

Wales, 273. 
Freedmen, 232 
Freedom, 139, 180, 189; of conscience, 

44, 45; and unity, 139 
Free Methodist Church of North 

America, 233. 
French, 36, 64, 68. 350 
French Broad Presbytery, 230. 
Friendly Citizens' Campaign, 122. 
Friends m America, 82, 262; Forward 

Movement of the, 120. 
Frontier Work, 227, 
Fundamentalists, 145. 
Furlough as an opportunity for study 

for foreign missionaries, 325. 

Galicians, 36. 

Galileo, 141. 

Garden City Conference, 242. 

Gary plan, 280. ^ ■ 

Gathering of federation secretaries, 

219. 
General Assembly of the Presby- 
terian Church in the U. S. A., 70, 

143, 252, 260. 
General Board of Promotion of the 

Northern Baptist Convention, 82, 

120, 252. 
General Conference of Methodist 

Church, 30, 70, 251. 
General Convention, 102, 249. 
General Council, 249. 
General Council of the Evangelical 

Lutheran Church in North America, 

255. 
General staff, 339; its function in the 

army, 339, 340; need of a similar 

organization in business, 340, 341. 
General Synod of the Evangelical 

Lutheran Church in the United 

States of America, 255. 
General War-Time Commission of 

the Churches, 46, 94, 96, 100, 103- 

111, 121, 122, 124, 181, 188, 263, 



INDEX 



367 



266, 344; organization of, 104; pur- 
pose of, 104; committees of, 104; 
expenses of, 104; its function as a 
clearmg-house of information, 105; 
activities of, 105; work for chap- 
lains, 106, 107; for camp pastors, 
107; for negro troops, 107, 108; for 
munition workers, 108; for prospec- 
tive theological students, 108, 109; 
Executive Committee of, 109, 110; 
reasons for success of, 109. 

Geneva, 74, 159, 222, 244, 316. 

German, Germans, 36, 64, 68, 350. 

German Church, opportunity for the 
formation of a free, 273. 

German Evangelical Synod, 65, 66, 70, 
87. 

German intellectuals, 97. 

German Reformed, 84. 

Germany, 87, 93, 273, 280, 330, 352. 

Gettysburg, 351. 

Ghetto. 35. 

Gilkey, Charles W., 26, 112. 

Gill, 197. 

Girls' clubs, 222. 

Gilroy, William E., 259. 

Gladden, Washington, 90. 

God, 19, 22, 139. 143, 148, 149, 151, 
152, 156, 158, 160, 165, 180, 284, 
296, 331. 332; the Christlike, 292; 
need of, m our time, 355. 

Good Friday, 271. 

Good government clubs, 222. 

Goodwill, 333. 

'Good Will Council," 176. 

Gospel. 24, 41, 44, 141, 143, 153, 162, 
164. 179, 195, 286, 288, 297, 322. 

Governing bodies of the denomina- 
tions, differences in, 249-250. 

Graded Lesson Series, 290. 

Graded teaching, 281. 

Grant, Madison. 43. 

Great Britain, 263, 323. 

Greek, Greeks, 36, 68, 288. 

Greek Orthodox Church, 174, 258, 
259; relation to Protestant churches, 
259; m Russia. 259. 

Greer, Bishop, 109. 

Grey, Lord. 60. 

Group contact, need of in the Church. 

336. 
Group study, importance of, 166. 
Group thinking, significance of, 335; 

need of, among leaders, 338; need 

of correlating, 342. 
Grundy County, 198. 
Guild. Roy B., 214. 
Guild socialism, 39. 



Hague, 177. 

Haig, Earl, 340, 341. 

Hamilton, 323. 

Hampton Institute, 325. 

Hangchow, 54. 

Harding, President, 80, 100. 

Harlem, 35. 

Harnack, 174. 

Hartford, 323. 

Harvard, 315, 316, 318, 319, 320, 322, 
325. 

Harvey, 21. 

Hell, 174. 

Hickory, 198. 

High and low church parties in dif- 
ferent churches, 82, 257. 

Highchurch view of the Church, 178; 
Lutherans, 179; Presbyterians, 179; 
Episcopalians, 295. 

Highchurchman, 178; meaning of the 
term, 178. 

Higher institutions of learning, con- 
tribution of to cooperative religious 
thinking, 336. 

Hindus, 49, 52. 

Historic Episcopate, 182, 185. 

Historic religions, 148. 

Historic spirit, 180. 

History, 314; of religion, 321. 

Hitchcock, Dr., 35. 

Hobson, Professor, 340. 

Holmes, John Haynes, 3, 150, 205, 
208, 289. 

Holy Scriptures, 99. 

Holy Spirit, 165. 

Home church, 29, 53; effect of for- 
eign missions in, 53. 

Home missionary, the old-time, 41. 

Home missions, 186, 294; the new, 
42, 89; boards, 78, 108; educational 
work of, 325; see also Boards of; 
Missions. 

Home Missions Committee, 216. 

Home Missions Council, 90, 103, 121, 
186, 196, 208, 228, 235, 236, 240, 
247, 254, 306; work of, 237; com- 
mittees of, 237; relation of Council 
of Women for Home Missions, 237; 
policy of, 238; difficulty of secur- 
ing unity through, 239; need of 
strengthening executive power of, 
239. 

Home Missions Council of Montana, 

240. 
Homiletics, 318. 
Hoover, 55, 96. 
Hostess houses, 246. 
Hough's Neck, 207. 



368 INDEX 



Howard University, 325. 
Hungarian, Hungarians, 36, 68. 
Hungary, 35. 
Hutchinson, Paul, 273. 



Icelandic Lutheran Church in North 
America, 256. 

Ideals, 182. 

niinois, 41, 311. 

Imagination, 335. 

Immanuel Synod, 255. 

Immersion, 86, 182. 

Immigration, 35, 44, 232; in the 
Church, 35. 

Immortality, 22, 143. 

India, 50, 52. 236, 273, 294, 337. 

Indiana, 218, 311. 

Indianapolis, 217, 218. 

Indian missions, 227, 237. 

Indians, 240. 

Individual, value of for Christianity, 
138, 139. 

Individualism, 81, 133, 199; of Amer- 
ican Church, 74; and democracy, 
74; its good side, 74; its bad side, 
74; in the Roman Catholic Church, 
181. 

Individualistic Protestantism, 153. 

Indulgences, 288. 

Industrial life of the East, 50. 

Industrial question, 304. 

Industrial struggle, moral significance 
of, 154; demoralizing effects of, 155. 

Industrial unrest, 333. 

Industrial Workers of the World, 38, 
39, 40, 175, 297, 333, 351. 

Industry, 89, 163; modern, 37. 

Infant baptism, 67, 81, 182. 

Information Service of Social Service 

Commission, 271. 
Inge, Dean, 354. 
Inquisition, 179. 
Interchurch Emergency Campaign, 

109. 
Interchurch World Movement, 73, 
86, 115-123, 129, 196, 197, 225, 238, 
245, 252, 289; origin of, 116; pur- 
poses of, 116; relation to denomi- 
national agencies, 117-120; relation 
to mterdenominational agencies, 
117; Committee on Industrial Re- 
lations, 118; amount raised, 118; 
reasons for failure of, 119; begin- 
ning of, 119; necessary changes in 
plans of, 121 ; contrast to General 
War-Time Commission, 121 ; 
Friendly Citizens' Campaign, 122; 



investigation of the steel strike, 
231, 232; criticism of, 232; steel 
report, 299. 
Intercommunion between American 

churches, 70. 
Interdenominational organizations, 

186. 
Intermediate divisions in the denomi- 
nations, 253; lack of coordination 
between, 253; need of readjust- 
ment, 254. 
Intermediate units, significance of in 

Presbyterian churches, 251. 
International affairs, 40; new spirit 
in, 336; friendliness, 51; situation, 
176, 304; organization, need of 
some permanent religious, 274. 
International Association of Daily 

Vacation Bible Schools, 241. 
International Committee of the Y, 

M. C. A., 103, 241, 250. 
International Council, 187. 
International Justice and Goodwill, 
Federal Council Commission on, 
261. 
International Missionary Council, 53. 
International Sunday School Associa- 
tion, 240; union of, with Sunday 
School Council, 240. 
International Sunday School Council, 

90. 
International Sunday School Council 
of Religious Education, 240, 241, 
306. 
International Sunday School Lesson 

Committee, 240, 241. 
Internationalism, 125. 
Institution, highchurch view of the 

significance of, 178. 
Institutional Christianity, 11; un- 
christian character of, 172. 
Institutional church, 201-203, 220, 222, 
223; work of, 202; different theories 
of, 202; difficulties of in Catholic 
or Jewish neighborhoods, 203. 
Investor, 164. — 

Invisible Church, 174. 
Iowa, 311. 

Irish, Irishmen, 49, 64. 
Irwin, 145. 
Israel, 97, 160. 

Italian, Italians, 35, 36, 37, 68, 228. 
Italy, 269. 

James, William, 148. 
Japan, 47, 50, 51, 54, 56, 263, 264, 294. 
Japanese, 36, 49, 168; in California, 
52. 



INDEX 



369 



Jehovah Conference, 255. 

Jesuits, 68. ^„ . .^ ^^^ 

Jesus Christ, 33, 43, 58, 138, 143, 145, 
149, 153, 156, 157, 160, 171, 184, 
264, 292, 296, 355; see also Christ. 

Jesus' test for our modern world, 335. 

Jesus' view of the ideal society, 169. 

Jews, 50, 66, 102, 106, 110, 139, 274; 
small proportion of, in synagogues, 
69; relation between Protestants 
and, 272. 

John the Baptist, 285. 

Joint Commission on War Production 
Communities, 108. 

Joint Cx)mmittee on Foreign Lan- 
guage Publications, 240. 

Joint Committees of Home Missions 
Council and Council of Women for 
Home Missions, 237, 240. 

Joint Synod of Ohio, 255. 

Jones, Ashby, 108. 

Jones, Dr., 296. 

Judicatory, 77, 249. 

Junior League, 30. 

Justice, 159. 

Juvenile Courts, 218. 

Kaftan, Theodor, 273. 

Kansas, 311. 

Kelly, Robert L., 127, 317. 

Kentucky, 310. 

Kingdom of God, 11, 20, 43, 84, 124, 

130, 139, 145, 149, 151, 153, 159, 160, 

165, 264, 291, 352. 
Knights of Columbus, 110, 268. 
Knox, George William, 74, 88. 
Korea, Koreans, 49, 52, 56. 
Kwannon, 55. 

Labor, 43, 232, 298, 330, 334; unions, 
38, 231; movement, 40; as a spir- 
itual movement, '43; Sunday, 271; 
leaders, 286; new educational inter- 
est of, 298. 

Labor Temple, 36, 230; work of, 231. 

Lachm&nn, Vera, 281. 

Laidlaw, Walter, 67, 69,72. 

Lambeth, 184, 188; Quadrilateral, 
182; recommendation as to Chris- 
tian Councils, 188; Conference, 273. 

Languages used in church services, 65. 

Lapp, John A., 154, 232. 

Latter Day Saints, 66. 

Lawrence, Bishop, 101, 104. 

Lawrence strike, 232. 

Lay leadership, 304. 

Laymen, place of in American 
Church, 78. 



Leaders, finding and training, 302-326 ; 
need of group thinking among, 338. 
Leadership, 25, 303, 326; problem of 
educational, in Protestantism, 302; 
need of lay, 304, 326 ; in the Church, 
308; need of enlightened and 
united, 354. 
League of Nations, 54, 57-60, 88, 115, 
122, 125, 168; analogy to Inter- 
church World Movement, 125. 
Lenine, 39. 

Liaison officer, 269; need of in Chris- 
tian Church, 269 ; effect upon Chris- 
tian unity, 269; need of in religious 
thinking, 337. 
Liberals, 147. 
Liberty Loans, 96. 
Library Association, 96. 
Life Work Committee of the Council 

of Church Boards, 127. 
Limitation of armaments, 58. 
Lin Yin, 54. 

Lippmann, Walter, 337, 339. 
Listener's Bench, 300. 
Literature, need of a new Christian, 

298. 
Lithuanian, 68. 
Little Italy, 35. 
Liturgical worship, 295. 
Liturgy, 185. 
Living Church, 352. 
Local church, 74; importance of, 195- 
200; statistics as to, 196; standards 
for, 196; effect of changes in, on 
life of the ministry, 220; relation 
to the Associations, 246. 
Local congregation, 305. 
Local cooperation, agencies of, 186. 
Local federations, 257; as a means of 
overcoming doctrinal differences, 
257; see also Federations of 
Churches. 
Local preachers, 30. 
Locating ministers, lack of adequate 

system for, 132. 
London, 23. 
Long, 24, 
Long Island, 246. 
Lord's Day, 99. 
Lord's Supper, 182. 
Los Angeles, 145. 
Louisville, 217, 272. 
Louvain County, 218. 
Love, 59; need of renewed confidence 

in its efficacy, 60. 
Low churchmen, 180. 
Lowell, President, 322. 
Lusk Committee, 39. 



370 



INDEX 



Lutheran, Lutherans, 20, 65, 66, 67, 
70, 84, 85, 102, 111, 124, 200, 211, 
232, 253, 317; divisions among, 85; 
union of, 85; highchurch, 179; 
movements for unity among, 255. 

Lutheran Church, see United Luth- 
eran Church in America. 

Lutheran Free Church, 255. 

Lutheranism, 72. 

Lutheran National Commission for 
Soldiers' and Sailors' Welfare, 102. 

Lutheran Synod of Buffalo, 255. 

Lynching, 167. 

Mackenzie, William Douglas, 108, 
112, 279. 

Magyars, 228. 

Maine, 55, 210. 

Manchuria, 56. 

Manhattan, 214, 215. 

Manning, 182, 211, 256. 

Maryland, 198. 

Mason and Dixon's Line, 108. 

Massachusetts, 30, 104, 207, 210, 218. 

Massachusetts State Federation of 
Churches, 207, 210. 

Mass production, 170. 

Master of Pedagogy, 323. 

Mayo, Katharine, 95. 

McAfee, Joseph, 123, 208. 

McConnell, F. J., 112. 

McCulloch, Rhoda, 27, 112. 

McDowell, Bishop, 100. 

Meletius, 259. 

Mennonites, 66, 87. 

Mercantile marine, 44. 

Methodism, 73, 74, 208; argument for 
a world-wide, 273. 

Methodist, Methodists, 29, 57, 65, 66, 
70, 73, 78, 82, 85, 88, 102, 212, 221, 
223, 232, 259, 311, 312, 317, 320, 338; 
movement for union between, 256; 
Southern, 290. 

Methodist Centenary, 124, 252. 

Methodist Church, 30, 67, 110, 130, 
132, 215, 251, 254, 318; South, 29; 
attitude toward women, 30; in 
Canada, 237. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, 70, 198, 
262; Board of Home Missions and 
Church Extension of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, departments of, 
227; Committee on Conservation 
and Advance of the Council of the 
Boards of Benevolence of the, 120, 

232. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
198, 233, 262; Board of Missions of 



the, 234; Centenary Movement of 

the, 120. 
Mexican, Mexicans, 36, 68, 240. 
Mexican border, 94. 
Mexico, 56, 264. 
Michigan, 311. 
Michigan State Agricultural College, 

312 

Middle West, 72. ^ 

Migrant groups, 237. 

Minister, Ministers, number of, 65, 
66 ; salaries of, 65 ; as preacher, 221 ; 
function of the local, 305. 

Ministerial Alliance of Denver, 176. 

Ministerial education, generous pro- 
vision for in America, 317; recent 
developments in, 317-326; need of 
providing for men without college 
education, 323; work done by 
Methodist Church in, 324; need of 
extension work in, 324, 325. 

Ministry, 196, 321 ; candidates for the, 
127; need of a reconsideration of 
the function of, 220-223; practical 
changes in life of, 220; need of 
theoretical adjustment, 220; con- 
trast between theory and practice 
of, 220 ; difficulties of, 221 ; enlarge- 
ment of the work of, 221; m the 
foreign field, 221-222; at home, 222; 
different forms of in Calvin's plan, 
222; of women, 222; original con- 
ception of in Protestantism, 222; 
training for, 315 ; recruiting for, 316 ; 
call to the Christian, 355; number 
of men entering without thorough 
preparation, 322. 
Mirable, 198. 
Miracles, 142. 
Missionary Education Movement, 

241. 

Missionary task of the Church, 40-42; 
agencies of the churches, 79, 133. 

Missionary Society of the Methodist 
Church in Canada, 237. 

Missions, English-speaking, 227; city 
and foreign-speaking, 227; Depart- 
ment of Missions and Church Ex- 
tension of the Domestic and For- 
eign Missionary Society of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
U. S. A., 227; American Baptist 
Home Mission Society, depart- 
ments of, 227; Missionary Society 
of the Methodist Church in Can- 
ada, 237; history of, 293; signifi- 
cance of, 293; as a subject of 
instruction, 319; supervision of 



INDEX 



371 



practical work, 319; see also Boards 
of; Home missions; Foreign mis- 
sions. 

Missouri, 72, 198, 212, 311. 

Mode, Peter G., 63. 

Modern industry and the church, 37- 
40. 

Mohammed, 19. 

Mohammedan countries, 50. 

Monastic order, 247. 

Montana, 210, 240, 254. 

Montgomery," Mrs. William A., 30. 

Moody, Dwight, 285. 

Moral differences, problems raised by, 
158. 

Moravian Church, 262; Larger Life 
Movement of the, 120. 

M or monism, 69, 75. 

Morse, R. C, 243. • 

Mother church with affiliated church- 
es, 201, 203, 204. 

Mott, John R., 53, 272. 

Muldoon, Bishop, 268. 

Music, 222. 

Mystical Christianity, 83. 

Mystical element in religion, 146. 

Mysticism, 76. 

Nassau County, 246. 

National Baptist Convention (Afri- 
can), 262. 

National Board of the Y. W. C. A., 
103, 241, 250. 

National Catholic War Council, 181, 
268. 

National Catholic Welfare Council, 
268, 271. 

National cemetery, 100. 

National Church in India, 273; in 
China, 273. 

National churches, need of effective, 
273. 

National Conference on Workers' 
Education, 298. 

National Council of Congregational 
Churches, 131. 

National Council of the Scottish Y. 
M. C. A., 247. 

National Councils, 187. 

Nationalism, 125. 

Nationality, 28, 45, 345; problem of, 
42, 44; Christian view of, 168. 

National Lutheran Council, 255. 

National Missionary Council of In- 
dia, 53. 

National organization of the churches, 
possible forms of, 274. 

National self-consciousness, 49. 



National Training School, 324. 

Nations, Christian view of the rela- 
tion of, 168. 

Native church, 51. 

Nature, 144. 

Navy, 46. 

Near East, 48, 50, 56, 264. 

Near East Relief Commission, 55. 

Near East Relief Fund, 56. 

Negro, Negroes, 35, ^, 43, 50, 70, 
167, 168, 240; problem, 37, 51; con- 
gregations, number and strength of, 
68; churches, 70; minister, attitude 
toward in North and South, 70; 
Americans, 237. 

New American Division of Inter- 
church World Movement, 228. 

New Americans, 237. 

Newark, 218. 

Nebraska, 311. 

New Britain, 35. 

New England, 64, 72, 81, 83. 

New England Unitarians, 257, 

New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, 
298. 

New School, 71. 

New social order, 153. 

New Testament, 86, 202. 

New Testament Greek, 311. 

New theology, 143, 149, 284. 

New York City, 34, 35, 36, 41, 69, 
201, 203, 214, 216, 219, 229, 237, 
254, 272, 294, 304, 318, 319, 335, 
345. 

New York City Missions Council, 
215. 

New York Federation of Churches, 
214. 

New York Presbytery, 204. 

New York School for Social Research, 
298. 

New Zealand, 259. 

Nicene Creed, 182. 

Nicholai, Bishop, 5, 59, 259. 

Non-Episcopal churches, 185. 

Non-Episcopal communions, 184. 

Non-interference, 56. 

Non-liturgical churches, 185. 

Non-liturgical worship, 295. 

Normal schools, 289. 

North Carolina, 230. 

Norwegian Lutheran Church of 
America, 255. 

Norwegians, 68. 

Novelty, 198. 

North, Frank Mason, 104. 

Northern as an ecclesiastical and as 
a geographical term, 70. 



372 



INDEX 



Northern Baptist Convention, 30, 57, 
262; General Board of Promotion 
of the, 82, 120, 252; New World 
Movement of the, 120, 124, 252; 
American Baptist Home Mission 
Society, departments of, 227; see 
also Baptists; Baptists, Northern. 

Northern Baptists, see Baptists, 
Northern. 

Northern Europe, S5. 

Northern Presbyterian, 71. 

Ochrida, Bishop of, 259. 

O'Connell, Cardinal, 271. 

Odell, Joseph H., 92. 

Official denominational cooperation, 
need of, 189. 

Ohio, 132, 197, 198, 218, 311. 

Ohio State Federation, 218. 

Ohio State University, 218, 312. 

Older man in the mmistry, 204, 
222. 

Oldham, J. H., 115. 

Old School, 71. 

One Big Union, 39. 

Ontario, Bishop of, 259. 

Open forum, 90, 231. 

Orders, Roman Catholic, 181, 247; 
analogy in the Associations, 247. 

Oregon, 198, 218, 326, 333. 

Organic and federal union, 187; rela- 
tion between illustrated in Ameri- 
can history, 187. 

Organic union, 177, 185, 188, 258-260; 
meaning of, 177; relation to other 
movements for unity, 187; relation 
to spiritual union, 187; refusal of 
the Pope to discuss, 258; different 
phases of the movement, 258; see 
also Union. 

Organist, 222. 

Organization, of the American 
churches, 75; spiritual significance 
of, 176, 353; need of a central or- 
ganization for group thinking, 342; 
for collective thinking, possible 
types of, 342-344; definition of, 344; 
function of, 344; personnel of, 344; 
relation to other committees for 
group study, 344; subjects to be 
considered by, 345; advantages of 
an official committee, 343. 
Organized church, function of in so- 
ciety, 191; educational significance 
of, 191. 
Orthodoxy, 84, 142, 179, 317, 320. 
O'Ryan, General, 60. 
Over-churching, 198. 



Pacifism, 161. 

Pacifists, 97, 160. 

Pan-African movement, 50. 

Panama Conference, 53. 

Parents, need of training Christian, 

304. 
Paris, 58. 
Parish, 77 ; system, 199 ; absence of in 

Protestant denominations, 199. 
Parks, Leighton, 3. 
Parochial schools, 20, 85. 
Par Standard, 196. 
Party system, absence of, from the 

American Church, 78. 
Pastor, 222. 

Pastoral work, 222; letter, 271; the- 
ology, 318. 
Patriotism, 170; Christian view of, 

170. 
Paulist Fathers, 68. 
Paulist Press, 288. 
Peace, 54. 

Pennsylvania, 72, 218, 311. 
Pension funds, 129. 
'Tentecost of Calamity," 168. 
Periodical press, 300. 
Perry, Bishop James DeWolf, Jr., 272. 
Perry, Commodore, 47. 
Pershing, General, 95, 106. 
Philadelphia, 260. 

Philadelphia Conference of 1920, 258. 

Philadelphia plan for organic union, 

nature of, 260; reasons for failure, 

260. 

Philanthropy, organized, relation to 

the churches, 270. 
Phillips Academy, 41. 
Philosophy, 336; of religion, 311, 314. 
Physical sciences, 336; results 
achieved through cooperation in, 
327, 328. 
Pierrefeu, 339. 
Pinchot, 197. 

Piper, David R., 198, 207, 208, 210. 
Pittsburgh, 217, 218. . . 

Pittsburgh Employers' Association, 

24. 
Plan of union, 209. 
Political education, contribution of 

the Church to, 300. 
Politics, 163, 314. 
Poland, 49, 56. 
Poles, 68, 228, 351. 
Pope, 159, 174, 256, 258. 
Popular education in China, 49. 
Portland, 218. 
Portuguese, 69. 
Post-war psychology, 122. 



INDEX 



373 



Practical theology, 318. 

Prague, 226. 

Prayer, 19, 283. 

Premillennarian, 145. 

Premillennarianism, 145. 

Presbyterian, Presbyterians, 65, 66, 78, 
83, 88, 101, 204, 209, 221, 223, 227, 
232, 259, 294, 312, 317, 318, 320, 324, 
338; Northern, 71; ministry, condi- 
tions of, 131 ; highchurch, 179. 

Presbyterian Church, churches, 29, 67, 
70, 77, 110, 124, 129, 130, 146, 200, 
215, 227, 230, 233, 251, 252, 318, 326; 
Southern, 119, 257; proposed cen- 
tral Council in, 253; movement for 
union between, 256; doctrinal dif- 
ferences in, 257. 

Presbyterian Church in Canada, 237; 
Board of Home Missions and So- 
cial Service of the, 237. 

Presbyterian Church in the U. S., 
198, 256, 262; Progressive Program 
of the, 120. 

Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., 
57, 198, 256, 262; meeting of the 
General Assembly of the, 70, 143, 
252, 260; New Era Movement of 
the, 120, 124, 252; Department of 
Vacancy and Supply of the, 132; 
Board of Home Missions of the, 
198, 226, 228, 272; departments of 
the, 228-230; Woman's Board of 
Foreign Missions of the, 234; 
Woman's Board of Home Missions 
of the, 234; Executive Commission 
of the, 252; Board of Christian 
Education of the, 253; Board of 
Foreign Missions of the, 253; 
Board of Ministerial Relief and 
Sustentation, 253; Board of Na- 
tional Missions of the, 253. 

Presbyterianism, 72. 

Presbytery, 42, 70, 77, 132, 204, 250, 
251, 254; powers of, 229; of New 
York, 231. 

Pre-seminary studies, 323. 

Primitive Christianity, 208. 

Primitive Methodist Church, 262. 

Princeton, 58, 320, 322. 

Private judgment, 179, 180, 

Privately supported colleges and uni- 
versities, 310; teaching of religion 
in, 312-317. 

Profit sharing, 336. 

Progress, 191. 

Prohibition, 122, 171. 

Proletariat, 352. 

Property, 285. 



Protestant, Protestants, 102, 205; 
Evangelical, 7; element, relative 
strength of compared with Roman 
Catholics, 67; ministry, its present 
condition and prospects, 127-133; 
Reformation, 139, 142; view of 
radical, 160; churches, relation to 
organized philanthropy, 270; ideal 
of religious education, 282; ideal, 
287; religious education, value of, 
293. 

Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
U. S. A., 71, 83, 129, 256, 266, 293, 
317, 318; Department of Nation- 
wide Campaign of the Presiding 
Bishop and Council of the, 102, 
120; Department of Missions and 
Church Extension of the Domestic 
and Foreign Missionary Society of 
the, 227; Presiding Bishop and 
Council of the, 252; Commissions 
on Christian Unity and Social Serv- 
ice, 262; see also Episcopal Church. 

Protestant Episcopal Seminary at 
Alexandria, 320. 

Protestant Episcopal Synod of New 
England, 57. 

Protestantism, 137, 174, 292, 294; 
American, 8, 10; meaning of the 
term, 8; as the church of the well- 
to-do, 76; place of religious experi- 
ence in the theory of, 143 ; divisions 
of, 180; original ideal of, 302; see 
also American Protestantism. 

Providence of God, 353. 

Provincialism, 337; of the American 
Church, 72; of American Christian- 
ity, 73. 

Psychology, 314; of religion, 321. 

Ptolemaic astronomy, 150. 

Publicity, 189, 217, 227. 

Public institutions, 218. 

Public schools, 289, 297 ; Bible in, 289. 

Public opinion, lack of adequate or- 
gans for the formation of, in the 
denominations, 251 ; responsibility 
of the Church for forming, 171, 
295-301. 

Puritan, 64; New England, 72; ideal, 
74; tradition, 81. 

Puritanism, 64, 74, 159. 

Purposes and beliefs, 150. 

Quadrennial meeting of the Federal 

Council, 264. 
Queens Borough, 214. 

Race, 28, 163, 344, 345, 350; problem 
of, 42; consciousness, 50; as a 



374 



INDEX 



menace to peace, 50; significance 
for American Christianity, 70; 
Christian view ef, 168, 170. 

Radical, radicals, 160; propaganda, 
39; Protestantism, 256; movement, 
lirnitations of, because of its re- 
striction to class, 351; because of 

. its lack of historical perspective, 

- 352. . 

Rauschenbusch, Walter, 90. ^ 

Recruiting for the ministry, 305, 316. 

Recruits, 283. 

Red Cross, 55, 96. . ' ' 

Reformation, 139, 142. 

Religion, 5; unifying influence ef, 5; 

. of the average American, 9, 15-33, 
34, 36 ; of American young men, 15- 
23; of older men, 23; of American 
women, 27-31; of American chil- 
dren, 31-33; decay of in the home, 
31; teaching of, in schools, 79; in 
the new intellectual environment, 
137-152; as a permanent human in- 
terest, 147; different types of, 148; 
rational element in, 179; what is 
meant by appeal to reason in, 179. 

Religious corporations, law govern- 
ing, 80. 

Religious education, 20, 147, 218, 222, 
235, 279, 321, 342; revival of in- 
terest in, 279-280; imperfect meth- 
ods in, 282; Protestant ideal of, 
282; as evangelism, 283; of laymen, 
neglect of in Protestantism, 288; 
attention given by Roman Catho- 
lics to, 288; content of ah adequate, 
290, 291 ; of laymen, agencies avail- 
able for, 308-316; history of in 
America, 309; need of a compre- 
hensive survey of facilities for lay 
workers, 324. 

Religious Education Association, 311; 
important work done by, 241, 242; 
cooperation of Roman Catholics 
and Jews with Protestants in, 272. 

Religious experience, Protestant type 
of, 148; Catholic type of, 148. 

Religious liberty, 139. 

Religious literature, 287. 

Religious press, importance of, 299. 

Reformed, 65, 66, 70. 

Reformed Church in America, 256, 
262; Progress Campaign of the, 120. 

Reformed Church in the U. S., 256, 
262; Forward Movement of the, 
120. 

Reformed Episcopal Church, 262. 

Reformed Presbyterian Church, 262. 



Reformers, 139, 141, 180, 232. 

Reform legislation, 270. 

Relations with Religious Bodies in 
Europe, Federal Council Commis- 
sion on, 262. 

Repentance, 284, 285. 

Representation, immediate in Con- 
gregational churches, 249, 250; 
mediate, 250. 

Required instruction in religion, 314. 

Rescue Missions, 286.^ 

Research, 303, 321, 327, 34^; need of, 
in religion, 316. 

Reunion in the Presbyterian and Re- 
formed family, 256. 

Revelation, 332. 

Revival movement, 74. 

Richards, Timothy, 88. 

Ritschl, Albrecht, 159, 160. 

Robinson, James. Harvey, 327. 

Rochester, 218. 

Roman Catholic, Roman Catholics, 
20, 65-66, 102, 106, 110, 178, 205, 
274, 288; number of in America, 
66; basis of estimation for church 
membership, 67; element, relative 
strength of compared with Protes- 
tants, 67; view of church unity, 173; 
reasons against, 173-174; orders, 
181; relation to Protestants, 271, • 
272. 

Roman Catholic Church, 72, 76, 150, 
173, 289; in America, need of a ' 
synipathetic treatment of, 68 ; its 
social outlook, 75; unity un, 181, 
268; differences in, 181, 268; Na- 
tional Catholic War Council, 181, 
268; National Catholic Welfare . ^ 
Council, 268, 271. 

Roman Catholicism, 137, 293; see- 
also Catholicism. 

Rome, 8, 142, 159, 174, 177, 179, 180, 
258,294,341. 

Rotation of office, 251. 

Roundy, Rodney W., 237. 

Rowntree, Seebohm, 165. 

Rural Community Work, 227. 

Russia, 35, 40, 49, 56, 352. 

Russians, 36, 228, 351. 

Ryan, John A., 154, 232. ^ 

Sabbath Association, 270. 
Sacrament, Sacraments, 21, 146, 182, 

288, 332. • 

Sacramentarian Christianity, 83. 
Sacramentarianism , 81 . 
Saint, 181. 
Salaries of ministers, 65^ 129, 196. 



INDEX 



375 



Salvation, 151. 

Salvation Army, 224, 246, 247, 286. ' 

San Francisco, 35. 

San Francisco Presbytery, 229. 

Saviour, 101, 151, 160, 264, 292. 

Scab, 39. 

Scandinavian churches, 273. 

Schaff, Philip, 63. 

School of Pedagogy, 323. 
' Schools of^ religion, 311; in state uni- 
versities,' 311. 

Science and the Cliurch, 140; and re- 
ligion, 142; limitations of pure, 144; 
destructive character of modern, 

^ 145; practical effects of, 149; effects 

of upon the Church's function, 149 ; 

consequences of, for the Church as 

a teaching body, 150-152 spiritual 

^qualities of, 152. 

Scientific movement, effect upon the 
ideals of the older Protestantism, 
140-144; positive contribution to 
religious faith, 147-149; influence 
upon education, 319. 

Scotch, 64. 

■ Scotland, 74, 109, 307. 
Scripture, Scriptures, 142, 182. 

■ Sea Coast Missionary Society, 55. 
Secretarial Council, 262. 
Secretary of War, 107. 

Secular educational institutions, sig- 
nificance of for religion, 241. 

Secularized education, 309; problems 
presented by, 297. 

Secular press, 299. 

Seminaries, 317. 

Sena,te, 47. 

Separation of church and state, 79. 

Service, 189. 

Serving love, works of, 266. 

Settlements, 324. 

Seventh Day Baptist Churches, 262. 

Seventh Day Baptist General Con- 
ference, New Forward Movement 
of the, 120. 

Shanghai, 50. 

Shantung, 52, 296. 

Shaw, Bernard, 24. 

Shaw, Lord of Dunfermline, 60. 

Shenton, Herbert N., 112. 
» Shriver, W. P., 40. 
. Silesia, 56. 

Silver Bay, 316. 

Sin, 19. ^ 

Slav, Slavic, 37, 68. 

Slovak, Slovaks, 36, 68. 

Slovenian, 69. 

Small, A. W., 232, 341. 



Social and Religious Surveys, Com- 
mittee on, 226. 

Social Christianity, 20, 21, 41, 75; in 
the East, 52; aspects of Christian 
missions, 52; settlements, 90 ; sal- 
vation, 145; ideal, 149; responsi- 
bility of the Church, false concep- 
tion of, 157; Roman Catholic 
theory of, 158. 159; Protestant 
theory of, 159; mission of the 

^ Church, 169-172; application of the 
Gospel, 201; consciousness, 201; 
science, need of cooperation in, 328; 
difficulty in securing such coopera- 
tion, 329-330; contribution of re- 
ligion to, 330. 

Social Gospel, 139, 283, 285; relation 
to individual conversion, 285; as 
test of the sincerity of repentance, 
285. 

Social Ideals of the Churches, 24, 89, 
151. 

Socialism, 352. 

Socialist, Socialists, 7, 297, 351 ; ortho- 
dox, 39; extreme, 39; clubs, 175; 
attempt to secure unity, 351, 352. 

Social-Religious Workers' Course, 
324. 

Social Service, 227, 232; Department 
of, 230; Commissions, 158, 232, 
262, 304; Committee, Committees, 
230, 232. 

Social Service Commission of Disci- 
ples, 198. 

Social Service, Commission on the 
Church and, of the Federal Coun- 
cil, 166, 232, 261, 270, 343. 

Society of Jesus, 181. 

Sociology, 321. 

Soderblom, Archbishop, 5, 274, 275. 

Son of God, 184. 

Spanish, 36, 68. 

Spanish War, 106. 

Spanish-speaking peoples, 237. 

Specialist, 336, 337. 

Specialization, need of in Christian 
work, 224 ; question whether it has 
been carried too far, 232; effect 
of upon religious education, 309; 
in seminaries, 321. 

Speer, Robert E., 52, 104, 112, 272. 

Speers, Guthrie, 18. 

Spencer, 144. 

Spirit of Christ, 171. 

Spirit of God, 11, 151, 152, 184, 185, 
292, 331, 353. 

South Africa, 60. 

South End House, 319. 



376 



INDEX 



Southern as an ecclesiastical and as 
a geographical term, 70. 

Southern Baptists, see Baptists, 
Southern. 

Southern Methodists, see Methodists. 

Southern Presbyterian Church, see 
Presbyterian Church and Presby- 
terian Church in the U. S. 

Southwest Bohemian Presbytery, 230, 

Sovereignty, 160, 179. 

Soviet Republic, 352. 

Standardization Committee, 309. 

State, 159, 289; and church, 80; 
theory of the modern, 160; individ- 
ualistic theory of, 176; German 
theory of, 179; federations of 
churches, 218, 254; church, 273. 

State Agricultural College, Connecti- 
cut, 218. 

Stated meetings of ecclesiastical 
bodies, educational possibilities in, 
326. 

State Federation of Ohio, 197. 

State universities, 289, 297, 309, 310, 
314; attitude toward religious edu- 
cation, 310; attitude of Christian 
people toward, 310; methods of 
cooperation with, 311. 

Stelzle, Charles, 230, 231. 

Stevenson, J. Ross, 108. 

St. George's Episcopal Church, 201. 

St. Louis, 218, 345. 

Stockbridge, 220. 

Stoddard, T. L., 43. 

Stowell, J. S., 36. 

Strikes: car strike, 153, 232; steel 
strike, 166. 

Students' Cosmopolitan Club, 36, 
59. 

Student Movement, 274. 

Students, numbers of in institutions 
of higher education, 310. 

Student Volunteer Movement, 286. 

Suffering as a teacher of brotherhood, 
54; different views of the signifi- 
cance of, 54-55. 

Suffolk County, 246. 

Summer schools, 315, 325; and con- 
ferences, 325. 

Sunday, 25. 

Sunday, Billy, 285. 

Sunday school, schools, 26, 32, 41, 
195, 232, 235, 280, 281, 282, 289, 290, 
291, 294, 296, 303, 310; number of, 
65, 66, 68; membership of, 65-66, 
68; agencies, 79; workers' interde- 
nominational associations of, 240; 
place of in religious education, 287; 



importance of, 288; graded lesson 
series, 290; numbers in, 305. 

Sunday School Council, union of with 
International Sunday School Asso- 
ciation, 240. 

Sunday School Council of Evangelical 
Denominations, 240. 

Suomi Sjnaod, 256. 

Superintendent for immigration, 227. 

Supply, committees on, 132. 

Support of religion in the Protestant 
Church, 76; in the Roman Catho- 
lic Church, 76. 

Survey, Surveys, 42, 225; what is 
meant by, 225; conditions of an ef- 
fective, 225; purposes of, 225; of 
Interchurch World Movement, 225; 
criticism of, 226; of Y. M. C. 
A., 226; of Y. W. C. A., 226; dif- 
ferent kinds of, 226; work of mis- 
sion boards, 226. 

Swing, Alice Mead, 159. 

Switzerland, 273, 350. 

Synod, 132, 254. 

Syria, 35, 56. 

Syrians, 49. 

Systematic teaching, need of in 
Protestantism, 287. 

Systematic theology, 318. 

Talbot, 19. 

Tariff, 44. 

Tawney, R. H., 165. 

Taxation, exemption of church from, 
79. 

Tax supported institutions, 141. 

Taylor, Alva W., 198. 

Teacher, importance of, 10; as evan- 
gelist, 283; function of, 303; im- 
portance of personality of, 314. 

Teaching of religion in schools, 79; 
ministry, 222; work of the Church, 
279; of the pulpit, 288. 

Teachers College, 324, 

Texas, 50, 311. 

Temperance, 232, 262. 

Tennessee, 198, 230. 

Thanksgiving proclamation, 80. 

Theocratic government, 77. 

Theocratic state, 74, 159. 

Theological differences, 71, 331. 

Theological education, tendency of, to 
become interdenominational, 320; 
need of a comprehensive study of, 
323. 

Theological seminaries, 146, 280, 307, 
317, 336; number of, 317; method 
of control in, 317, 318; under de- 



INDEX 



377 



nominational control, 318; inde- 
pendent, 318; character of in the 
United States, 318; theology taught 
in, 318; tendency to move to large 
cities, 319; representation of other 
denominations on faculties of, 320. 

Theological Society, 320. 

Theology, 291, 321; as a college sub- 
ject, 309. 

Thinking together, 327-345; distin- 
guished from thinking alike, 331. 

Thompson, Charles L., 226, 227 308 

Toledo, 218. 

Toledo Federation of Churches, 218. 

Training schools, denominational, 
324. 

Trinity, 182. 

Trotsky, 39. 

Tulsa, 167, 344. 

Turner, Fennell P., 236. 

Trustees, 200, 223; function of, 200. 

Ukrainian, 36. 

Uniformity, 180. 

Union, federal, 177; organic, 177; 
progress toward, 187; of home and 
foreign missions, 233; movement 
for between Baptists, 256; move- 
ment for between Methodists, 256; 
failure of movement for between 
Northern and Southern Presby- 
terians, 256; between Presbyterian 
families, difficulties in the way of 
256; the race difficulty, 256; theo- 
logical difficulties, 256; movement 
m Canada, 258; in Australia, 258; 
in New Zealand, 258; organic and 
federal, 258-269; movements for 
Christian, in Europe, 273; difficulty 
of securing, by democratic meth- 
ods, 350; nature of in democracy, 
ool . 

Union church, 87, 206-208; what is 
meant by, 206; numbers of, 207- 
advantages of, 207; future of, 207 
208, criticism of, 208. 

Union Hospitals, 52. 

Union School of Religion, 304. 

Union schools, 52. 

Union Settlement, 34, 319. 

Union, The, 351. 

Union Theological Seminary, 35, 304 
317, 318, 320, 325. 

Unitarian, Unitarians, 66, 71, 82, 87, 
257; doctrinal difficulties with Con- 
gregationalists, 257. 

Unitarianism, 205. 



United Brethren in Christ, 65, 66, 70, 
87, 262; United Enlistment Move- 
ment of the Church of the, 120. 

United Church in Canada, 259. 

United Church of Christ in America, 
260. 

United Danish Evangelical Lutheran 
Church of America, 255, 256. 

United Evangelical Church, 66, 87, 
262; Forward Movement of the| 

United Lutheran Church in America 
255, 262, 266, 267; Executive Board 
of the, 252; consultative relation 
assumed to Federal Council, 267. 

United Presbyterian Church, 256, 
262; New World Movement of the 
120. 

United Society of Christian En- 
deavor, 241. 

United States, 53, 54, b^, 63, 187, 207, 
236, 237, 269, 353; population of, 
66; Department of Labor, 226; 
War Department, 272. 

United States Census of Religious 
Bodies, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 83, 

United States Steel Corporation, 129. 

United Synod of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church in the South, 255 

Umversalist, Universalists, 66, 71, 87 

Universities, 235, 289, 307, 308, 332, 
336; and colleges, influence of, 315; 
responsibility of, for religious edu- 
cation, 308, 313; ways in which this 
can be discharged, 313-316; see also 
Colleges. 

University of Chicago, 232, 316, 319, 

320, 325. 
University of Iowa, 311. 
University of Michigan, 311. 
University of Missouri, 311. 
University of Texas, 50, 311. 
University Place Church, 18. 
University preaching, 313; affiliation, 

Utah," 240. 

Vacation Bible Schools, 280. 

Variation, limits of legitimate, in the 
Church, 182-186. 

Vatican Council, 174. 

Vermont, 210. 

Vocational diplomas, 321. 

Volunteer lay workers, need of train- 
ing for, 315. 

Virginia, 64, 72, 83, 320, 



378 



INDEX 



Wages, 38. 

War, 3, 47, 345; and religion, 16; as 
an educational influence, 48; work, 
51 ; effect upon Christianity, 51 ; 
different attitudes toward, 92-93; 
work of the Church, 92-113; differ- 
ent estimates of, 92-93; influence 
of, upon the Church, 101-102, 114 
attitude of pacifists toward, 160 
as an example of compromise, 161 
effect upon the Christian Associa- 
tions, 245. 

War Camp Community Service, 96, 
102. 

War Commissions, 95, 101. 

War Department, 272. 

Ward, Harry F., 89. 

Washburn, George, 88. 

Washington, 103, 107. 

Washington, State of, 333. 

Washington Committee on Army 
and Navy Chaplains, 100, 106, 261. 

Waste of American life, 333; in the 
spiritual realm, 333. 

Wayne County, 218. 

Welch, 64. 

Welch Calvinistic Methodist Church, 
256. 

Wells, H. G., 337. 

Wesley, 73, 85, 188. 

Wesley Foundation, 311. 

Western Christianity, 52. 

Western civilization, 51. 

Western leadership, effect of war on, 
51. 

Westminster Confession, 84. 

White, Frank, 80. 

Whitfield, 220. 

Willett, Herbert L., 243. 

Williams, Michael, 94, 181. 

Williams College, 47, 315. 

Williams College School of Politics, 
315. 

Wilson, Elizabeth, 244. 

Wilson, President, 47, 58. 

Wisconsin, 311. 

Woman as home maker, 30. 

Women and the church, 28, 29; as 
local preachers, 30; enfranchise- 
ment of, 50; in India, 50; in China, 
50; place of in the American 
Church, 78; ministry of, 82, 222; 
see also American women. 

Women's boards of home and foreign 
missions, 29, 234; organization and 
function of, 237. 

Women's Christian Temperance 
Union, 242. 



Work among foreign-born Ameri- 
cans, 227. 

Workingmen and the Church, 154. 

World Alliance for International 
Friendship through the Churches, 
103, 274; cooperation of Roman 
Catholics and Jews with Protest- 
ants in, 272. 

World Conference of 1910, 235. 

World Conference of Methodists, 273. 

World Conference on Faith and 
Order, 258. 

World organization, different theories 
of, 350. 

World Student Federation, 274. 

World's Sunday School Association, 
240, 241. 

Worship, 21, 189, 295, 305, 317; im- 
portance of, 295. 

Yajima, Madame, 50. 

Yale, 314, 316, 318, 320, 325. 

Yale Convocation, 314. 

Year Book of the Federal Council, 
66, 69. 

Yiddish, 69. 

Young, China, 53. 

Young Men's Christian Association, 
16, 17, 91, 94, 95, 106, 108, 110, 146, 
164, 186, 223, 226, 242, 243, 254, 280, 
311, 313, 316, 323, 324; Interna- 
tional Committee of the, 103, 250; 
work in smaller communities, 236; 
history of, 243; work of, 243, 244; 
policy of with reference to women, 
246; College at Springfield, 324; 
College at Chicago and Lake 
Geneva, 324; see also Associations 
and Christian Associations. 

Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion, 24, 91, 95, 186, 223, 238, 242, 
244, 254, 280, 311, 313, 316, 323, 324; 
National Board of the, 103, 250; 
history of, 244; extension of work 
of, 244; relation to churches, 244; 
Bible class work of Association, 
244; pioneer work done by, 245; 
policy of with reference to men, 
246; work in smaller communities, 
246; see also Associations and 
Christian Associations. 

Young People's Society of Christian 
Endeavor, 242. 

Zangwill, Israel, 48, 54. 
Zionist movement, 50. 
Zone of agreement, 164. 



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